Gingka's Deceit
by SonicaDarkness
Summary: After the DNA is defeated and everything is returned to normal in Metal Bey City, things begin to take a turn for the worst when something begins happening to Gingka. With little to rely on and truths to uncover, Zyro and his friends must try to defeat the new threat that has made itself known in Metal Bey City. However, not everything is exactly as it seems. Warnings inside.
1. Prologue

**Hello, and welcome to Gingka's Deceit! This is a story that I started, and finished, awhile ago, but I thought I'd start uploading it up on here.**

 **Trigger warnings are below, if any of the following things bother you, I suggest that you only continue at your own risk.**

 **Trigger Warnings: Violence, blood, death, murder, suicide, emotional torture, physical torture, attempted murder, psychotic behavior, depression, mind control, body horror, stalking, and vomiting.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade, all rights go to the rightful owners. I just own the plot and a couple characters.**

* * *

Prologue

The Bridge To The Future tournament had started not a week after Zyro and the others had escaped DNA headquarters by the skins of their backs - bringing back Gingka himself in the process from their clutches.

Madoka had nearly been in tears when she had seen him before her eyes, a bit scratched up but no less dorky as she remembered him from 5 years ago when he embarked on that journey to train overseas; Tsubasa and Benkei had given her time to reminisce with the redhead she had missed so much and had almost thought she would never see again.  
It was a heartfelt reunion for all of them, being able to see Gingka again and not chained to a panel on a computer screen with no hopes of escape; he even said that he did indeed owe Zyro and the others for saving him.

Fairly, the young bladers were truly excited to have _the_ Gingka Hagane back in Metal Bey City, of who was still a hero to all - let alone the entire world after saving them from Nemesis.  
As it currently was, Zyro along with Shinobu, Ren, Kite, and Eight all prepared for the first round of the tournament to take place which was Zyro vs. Yoshio.  
As the friends walked down the metal-plated hallway of the building, talk of the BTF rang off the metal with eager spirits and smiles on their faces - this talk soon reached the ears of a familiar redhead leaning against the wall in the hallway at a 3 way intersection of it.

"I can only guess what Yoshio would have up his sleeves for you, Zyro." Said Ren as she walked along side the ginger-ravenette, "It's been awhile since you've dueled him." "So what?"  
Zyro asked in a perky tone, "That just makes all the more reason to look forward too it!" Ren playfully rolled her eyes at the Fire Blader, having gotten used to his upbeat spirit as the others have - what they had all known to love him for.  
And as Zyro's eyes went to look over at Shinobu, the blue orbs caught the sight of Gingka leaning against the wall in the hallway; eyes closed, arms crossed, one ankle slightly over the other for support so that he wouldn't fall over and onto the ground, the Legendary Blader looked like he was almost waiting for them.  
"Hey Gingka." Zyro greeted with a smile that drew the attention of his other friends, their eyes being drawn to that of which Zyro's were - upon Gingka Hagane who opened his golden-brown eyes and turned them to look at the young bladers.

"Oh, hey Zyro.." He said in a subdued voice - something that didn't sound like him at all from what they knew of him. "Have you been doing okay?" Zyro asked, "I mean, from what happened at the DNA and all.."  
"Uh, yeah.." Gingka answered as he stood upright, his scarf flowing gracefully with his movements as though wings borne upon his back to take him away to the freedom someone such as him may or may not deserve, "I'm fine.. Still a bit shaken from the building almost crumbling on our heads, but.. I'm fine."  
Kite's glasses shone brightly in the reflection of the light, spotting that anxious look within Gingka's kind eyes that made him wonder. As well as they knew of him, Gingka was an honest person who was more than open towards his friends and people he wanted to be friends with - at least, that was what they had heard from Madoka, Tsubasa, and Benkei about their old friend who they hadn't seen in 5-6 years.

People change, and he knew that - who said that Gingka Hagane couldn't?

"Are you sure you're fine?.." Asked Kite with the slightest hint of suspicion in his voice, a tone that no one was capable of picking up, not even Eight - but Gingka noticeably sensed that at the almost panicked - panicked? - look in his eyes.  
"Yeah.." The redhead proclaimed in conclusion, "I'm sure.."  
With no further words did Gingka walk off and round the corner to the right and away from them, which only made Zyro grow worried at the Blader's sudden exit as though he was.. Afraid of them?  
"Looks like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.." Eight muttered while holding his big brother's hand.  
"Uh, yeah.." Zyro said in an attempt to get away for a moment, "Well, I'll see you guys later. I gotta go prepare for my battle with Yoshio in an hour." "You be careful with him, alright Zyro?"

Shinobu said as Zyro begun to walk away, turning back to look at his best friend. "Of course!" Zyro said with a smile, "I've won against him before, I'm certain I can do it again."  
With a sigh and playful shake of the head, Ren shooed him off as they all went the opposite direction Gingka had, once more speaking of the tournament. In concern of the older blader, Zyro headed down the hallway that he had seen Gingka leave through.  
As he proceeded down the hall it continuously got darker to the point of only one light around a corner flickering dimly, though intriguing Zyro to keep going down to try and find the redhead - if he could that is.  
His breath seemed to echo off the walls and back to him, his footsteps like thunder while frightened children huddled together in the corner, the walls closing in around him the further he went down.

Sooner or later did he have to stop, standing in the middle of the darkened hallway as the walls seemed to close around him in a box like shape, forcing to trap him in there until he suffocated to his untimely demise; Zyro always hated admitting he was claustrophobic.  
It was a weakness of his he would rather have nobody know, not even any of his closest friends - old and new - knew about his phobia for dark and small spaces.  
"I knew you'd follow me.." Said a voice that echoed off the walls as Zyro's breath did, causing blue eyes to shoot forwards and see a certain redheaded blader standing just within the borders of the dimmest light of the hallway, his golden brown eyes seeming as dim as the light he stood in.  
"Gingka?.." Zyro said in a subdued voice, watching from the corners of his eyes as the walls slowly went back into place and allowed him to breathe freely once more. "In a way, you're quite predictable like that, Zyro.." Spoke the redhead with an almost sad - sad? - smile that spread across his rather youthful features, "It's almost funny.. How some people can see through and get to others so easily.."

"W-what are you talking about, Gingka?" Zyro asked, trying desperately to prevent his voice from breaking at the feeling of being clawed at by the metal walls that surrounded to, desperately clinging to the edge of the light as if it were his only life source.  
"Nothing, Zyro.." The redhead answered with a soft shake of his head, "Its just that.. There's something I need to tell you..."  
"And what's that?" Zyro asked as the dim light above them flickered. "When we were about to face against Doji.." Gingka began, "When I dragged his attention away from all of you when I managed to free myself.. How would you picture that moment?.."  
"W-well.." The ginger-ravenette stuttered, unsure of the older Blader's unusual question - but then again, this was _Gingka Hagane_ so all of his questions were respected by a lot of young bladers like himself.  
"You did save us back there, Gingka." Zyro said with a smile towards his idle, "You helped a lot in that duel with Doji.. I really don't know where we'd be right now without you."

A solemn look crossed Gingka's features once that sentence was finished, as though thinking over every aspect, every tone, every letter like it would cost him a great price.  
Numbly did he bite the inside of his bottom lip to prevent himself from saying too much, feeling the taste of metal in his mouth from not drinking anything recently that day - well, maybe not _entirely_ for that reason alone.  
"I see.." He said quietly, his voice seeming louder from the emptiness of the hall that kept getting to Zyro before backing off and repeating the same pattern over and over, "You need to know something, Zyro.. Doji may be gone, but something else is right around that next turn.. And its probably already here; you have to be ready for it at all costs, Zyro."  
"G-Gingka?.." The ginger-ravenette stuttered once more as the walls closed in upon him again, Gingka's words slowly and easily eating their way at his nerves like poison running through him and killing off his very being painfully and slowly. "Is.." He began, "Is something wrong, Gingka?.."

"No, no, I'm fine, Zyro, honest.." The redhead insisted, making his tone believable enough for Zyro to accept it as genuine, "You just need to know.. No matter what happens, no matter what comes your way, never give up.."  
With those words, Gingka turned away and slowly began to fade away into the shadows. "Wait!" Zyro called out as a sense of dread crawled over him and in-bedded itself in his spine, "Why..? Why are you telling me all of this, Gingka?" The Legendary Blader stopped in his tracks, half turning to face the Fire Blader with a blank look in his eyes that once shone with light not a few moments ago.

"Because when the time comes to face whoever is going to strike against us next.. I might not be there to save you again.."

With a feeling of confusion was Zyro struck hard in his soul with those words - though he had absolutely no idea why they effected him so badly like nothing else he had ever known before.  
Blue eyes watched as the older turned and walked away from him, his footsteps echoing in the hall and soon fading into nothing which left the young blader and complete and dreaded silence.  
Something wrenched at his heart in a way he didn't understand, a pain forming in his midsection that made him feel like he was going to be sick and all he knew at that moment was that he couldn't stay in that hallway any longer.  
With the walls closing in behind him, Zyro ran back in the direction towards light and his friends where he would feel so much safer than he did now.

Little did Zyro know that Gingka's words had a valuable meaning that he had yet to understand - perhaps he would never want to understand the meaning of Gingka's own - and unlikely - deceit.


	2. Chapter 1 - Zyro's Battle

Chapter 1 - Zyro's Battle

* * *

Overlooking the city, Gingka stood at the edge of one of the tallest buildings in Metal Bey, the wind gusting at his shaggy hair and his shredded scarf.

An ache in his chest merged from his heart as he remembered the words he had just said to Zyro, ones that would haunt and taint the young blader for the rest of his life and would never be able to escape; Gingka could never be direct with someone so innocent and carefree as Zyro was, for he had to keep it a secret from anyone anyway - he could have no one dare panic or know about his current state, it would be too risky.  
He had felt his gut wrench when he had spoken those words to Zyro, his heart beating so hard against his chest he swore that it was visible through his skin.  
Barely even hinting to Zyro was bad enough to make him want to pass out, but telling Madoka, Tsubasa, or Benkei would be an entirely different story. Supporting one elbow in the palm of his hand across his chest, Gingka placed a hand to his forehead with his eyes closely firmly shut, his head pounding so hard he felt like breaking down and crying on the spot. Yet to show weakness to it was something that he could absolutely not do, something that he would eternally refuse to do.

Silently did the Legendary Blader stand there in silent suffering, trying his best not to whimper as he waited for the pain in his head to pass.

Deep breaths, stay calm, don't move.

Deep breaths, stay calm, don't move.

Deep breaths, stay calm, don't give in...

* * *

Madoka looked out the window from the WBBA building, Tsubasa sitting at his desk as he observed the battle grounds to make sure everything was in place - the BTF would ultimately decide who would stand as Japan's representatives, whether it the WBBA or the ex-DNA bladers.  
It was bound to a very close call, seeing as how powerful all of them were, especially Zyro, Sakyo, and Kira - that was undeniably going to a be sight to see. Golden-brown eyes turned to the brunette at the window, of who was visibly staring absently out upon the city before her while biting the skin around her thumb nail, the tip turning red as it began to go raw; clearly, she hadn't noticed.

"Madoka?" Tsubasa asked, "Are you okay?"  
His voice seemed to snap the brunette out of her trance-like state, bringing her back to her senses and turning her light blue eyes to the Director of the WBBA.  
"Oh, Tsubasa.." She acknowledged, "How long have you been there?" Tsubasa put on a confused look, worry flooding his veins like the air that swirled in his lungs. "I've been here the entire time, Madoka," He advised the Bey mechanic, "Is something wrong?"  
Madoka didn't answer him at first, looking away and at the carpeted ground underneath her. Tsubasa was one of her best friends, and she knew it would do no good to lie to him - to try lying to him anyway; both him and Benkei could always tell if something as wrong, they had known each other for 9 years.

"I-it's nothing," She stuttered, "Don't worry about-"

"It's not _nothing_ , Madoka." Tsubasa interrupted, standing up from his chair and facing the brunette. With a gentle stature, the Director wandered over to Madoka, putting both hands on either of her shoulders and looking her in the eye.  
"Listen.." He began, "We've been friends for a long time.. And I think by now I can tell when you're lying. So I'll ask you again.."  
Forlorn light blue eyes looked up to gaze into golden brown that reflected the redhead she loved, though without the same burning intensity she knew, "What's wrong?.." Those words seemed to make the break, the mechanic forcing down a choked sob and hiding her tears from the man in front of her.  
"Its just.." She muttered out, "Gingka's back and.. He left so long ago without notice, I just.." Tsubasa understood at that moment, his eyes softening as he took one hand off of Madoka's shoulders.

"You're afraid of him leaving again, aren't you?" He asked, a gentleness in his eyes that was rarely shown. Madoka could only not frantically, tears welling in her eyes as she dared not let them fall and let the dam break.  
Though the thought of Gingka leaving Metal Bey City behind once again terrified her and almost forced her to cry out waterfalls - whether figuratively or literally. He had left at least 5 years prior till now and they hadn't heard from him since then, no letters, no calls, no nothing; she had honestly thought that Gingka was never coming back, and after 5 years she had lost hope that he would - all she did was smile and think positively about his training from overseas, and how much more skilled he must be becoming at Beyblade.

Not that she may have ever seen how much his skills had improved over the years.

But she had been wrong when she saw Gingka from the camera on Maru's laptop, a glimmer of light re-sparking in her heart when she say those golden brown eyes and spiky red hair.. But when she saw the situation he was in, she knew that that all might be - very - short-lived. She finally had him back here again, back home where he belonged, with all of them - but she knew the redhead better than that.  
Gingka never really stayed in one  
place for too long, he traveled everywhere and always moved around - Metal Bey may have been the first home he ever really had since he left and abandoned Koma. Tsubasa gently pet her hair, the brown locks bouncing back into place once his hand left them, and then flattened again as his hand covered them.  
He understood Madoka's feelings perfectly, knowing how much she cared for Gingka and wished for that adorable and clumsy dork to stay, to come back home and once more be with them all. And Tsubasa did try to look on the positive side of things.

"Madoka.." He said softly, "All that matters now is that he's back home.. With all of us. Where he belongs.."  
Madoka wiped her tears from her eyes and looked up into golden-brown eyes that were all she had for the last 5 years, her own light blue orbs rimmed with droplets of salty tears that had yet to fall.  
"He won't leave, Madoka.." Tsubasa insisted with as much of a positive demeanor as he could muster, knowing not if he believed it himself, "Don't worry." With a weak smile, Madoka wiped away the rest of her tears and stood tall and upright as she always did, her hands at her sides and slightly damp with wiping her eyes so much. Tsubasa was right, there was nothing to worry about.  
How silly she must have looked!  
Gingka was back home now, where he belonged with all of them - it was going to be fine. Wasn't it?

"Yeah, you're right, Tsubasa." A smile crossed handsome tanned features, before gently patting her on the shoulder before heading back to his desk where he sat back down and went back to observing the preparations for the first duel between Zyro and Yoshio.  
Madoka looked at him before looking out the window with a bright look on her face towards the sky, a blue sky that reminded her of the day when they had defeated Nemesis for good. Her own words of 'you're right' echoed in her ears like the ocean through a conch shell.

 _"I hope..."_ She thought to herself and did not dare say aloud, so that she did not worry Tsubasa any further than he already was...

* * *

"Are you sure that's what he said, Zyro?" Shinobu asked as the 4 of them sat around the Fire Blader, telling them what had happened when he "ran into" Gingka down the hall.  
"I'm positive that's what he said, Shinobu," Zyro answered, "And there was something really weird about the way he said it."

"Weird, like how?" Kite asked as he too moved to get involved on this conversation, of course joined by his baby brother.  
"Well.." Zyro began, thinking for a moment in complete silence as he too asked himself that question. He did know that it felt weird when Gingka said that, but he himself didn't entirely know what kind of weird that 'weird' was. "Its almost like.." He continued, "It was some sort of warning or something.."  
"But why a warning?" Ren asked in a concerned voice as she looked at Zyro with brown eyes filled with curiosity at this run in with the Legendary Blader. "I wish I knew, Ren.." Zyro answered in defeat of his own mind and with a sigh, "I wanted to ask him about it, but he took off before I had the chance too.."  
Of course, that was half a lie, as Zyro had just wanted to desperately get out of that hallway before his claustrophobia made him go insane and crush him against the floor in silent suffering and succumb to weakness - of course he hadn't had time to ask Gingka what he had meant when he said that.

"Well, I think you have to figure it out on your own, Zyro.." Said Eight shyly as he looked up from his lap at the ginger-blacknette, "That's probably what he wanted in the first place."  
A coated arm of Kite's slid around his brother and placed his palm on his shoulder, the young bluenette feeling warmth spread from there and throughout his much smaller body as his big brother held him with one arm.  
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Zyro said thoughtfully with a dorky smile that nearly made the deep bluenette wanna giggle - as girly as that sounded. "I guess I'll just have to try and ask him." Zyro insisted, "I mean it can't be that serious, can it?"

"Hey, Zyro!" A familiar voice said from behind them in the doorway, all of them turning to see the small pink-haired girl with the laptop, of which they only knew as Maru. Her violet eyes glistened with light and excitement as she held her laptop snug under one arm.  
"Your duel with Yoshio starts soon." She said with a smile, "I suggest you get going." Zyro smiled and nodded, "Right!" With excitement, the Fire Blader stood and made his way for the door.  
"Zyro.." Zyro stopped in his tracks and looked back at Shinobu, who was looking at him intently with his green eyes glistening naturally against his tanned skin. "You better not lose." A smile crossed Zyro's lips before he gave his best friend one of those thumbs up of his.  
"Hey, I'm not losing anytime soon, Shinobu!" He assured as that determined light shone in his eyes, before taking off from the room and down the hall, followed by Maru of who was opening her laptop as she hurried after him.  
After the energetic teen left the room, Shinobu smiled and shook his head. "Always so sure of himself." He muttered, knowing fully well that someone like Zyro would undoubtedly win against Yoshio - he did it before...

* * *

From where they were, Tsubasa, Madoka, Benkei and Maru watched as the preparations for the first battle were finally completed, the audience cheering madly for it to start as Blader Gai appeared on the screen.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" He announced, "Welcome to the first battle of the Bridge To The Future Tournament!"  
Cheers roared out madly through the crowd as the tension grew and some were literally jumping in their seats from excitement. It was wonderful thing to see, and it brought back memories for the 3, remembering all those tournaments and Bey Battles they had witnessed when they entered - they were always lead by Gingka at that time, with that loud and optimistic demeanor of his that never got old.  
Madoka missed the presence of having Gingka at her side - he hadn't shown up and she knew that they couldn't wait for him under any circumstances; hopefully he was watching it from somewhere nearby. Only she didn't get why he wouldn't want to be there with them if he was.

"Hey Tsubasa.." Madoka spoke softly, looking at Tsubasa who stood beside Maru, "Where do you think Gingka would be?"  
"I don't know, Madoka.." He said, "But we don't have time to worry about that right now. Right now, Zyro and Yoshio's battle is about to start." Madoka simply nodded and turned back to what was happening outside, listening to Blader Gai's announcing voice that sounded almost exactly she remembered; Blader Gai had been different back then of course. "Now, ladies and gentlemen! Put your hands together for the Champion himself: Zyro Kurogane!" Cheers roared through the crowd as Zyro came out in to the warm daylight of the Bey Stadium, a smile on his face as he was greeted by his loved fans who clapped and cheered at the Fire Blader as he walked over to the Cyclone Stadium.  
"And former DNA Blader, Yoshio Iwayama!" Cheers once more split through the crowd as Yoshio entered from the dark hallway and out into the arena, joining Zyro at the Cyclone Bey Stadium and stood opposite him.  
"Bladers, ready!" Zyro could feel the eyes of his friends on him, their voices cheering in the crowd as he readied his Bey upon his launcher in unison with Yoshio, holding them out in front of them.

"3!"

Everyone counted down the seconds, silence falling except for the chants while the duel was about to begin.

"2!"

Yoshio could feel the eyes of his fellow ex-DNA bladers behind him in the audience, master Kira probably with his arms crossed and that usual displeased expression which he always took on on his face.

"1!"

Both prepared to launch the ready, the jagged pieces of their launches digging into the skin of their hands; Zyro's blue eyes even thought he caught the flash of a white scarf flowing in the breeze.

"Let it rip!"

With all the strength and force of their spirits, Zyro and Yoshio launched their Beys into the Cyclone Stadium, cheers once more ripping through the crowd.  
Most of his body covered by shadows, Gingka watched from the battle from nearby, witnessing as Zyro determinedly battled against Yoshio with fire in his eyes, Yoshio smashing back into him with the force of his Blader's Spirit that raged within both of them.  
This is dearly what he loved to see.  
2 bladers battling it out with all of the spirit they had, never giving up until the very end where the outcome would be determined. It warmed his very heart of which in his chest felt so cold. The pain in his chest caused Gingka to tear away from the duel as a hand went over it and gripped the clothes above it.  
Perhaps he was right to not be with his friends at this time; Madoka would undoubtedly grow worried for him and push him to tell her the truth. He knew that she was - and may never be - ready for the truth. None of them were.  
Maybe this was from what was happening to him - or maybe it was because he knew he had lied to the youth who he kept his eyes on in the 2's battle.

"Go, Ifraid!" He remembered those words from their first battle, the exact words that he said now has Ifraid and Golem clashed against each other in heated battle. Zyro looked up to him.  
Gingka knew that he did.  
Each time he looked at him he would see that light of admiration in his blue eyes, hoping that - one day - he could be just like his idle. Kids like that always had silly dreams of one day saving the world like their favorite heroes; only Zyro did save the world. He saved it from the DNA's control over the Beyblade World.  
Gingka knew that Zyro wanted nothing more than to have the redhead be proud of him, a sense of approval in all he's done along with respect between one another. He hadn't said it.. But he already _was_ proud of Zyro.

For seeing that bonds and friendships were more important than winning, that the connections you make with others are what really matters in the end. The simple fact that Zyro understood the way of his Blader's Spirit, was enough to make him more proud of him than he had ever been of anyone.  
Not like he would ever get the chance to tell him that. Tears threatened to fall from his golden-brown eyes, but he refused to let them; there was no sense crying when it wouldn't make any of this any better.  
Especially the fact that he would have to leave again...

* * *

"Go, Ifraid!" They all heard Zyro cry as the friends watched from the stands, Eight up on the first bar of the railing to see better with Kite right behind him to make sure he didn't fall.  
"I hope Zyro can pull through on this one." The young bluenette said with hope, "Yoshio seems to be putting up a good fight." "Bandit Golem is a Defense Type.." Kite reflected while he adjusted his glasses upon his nose, "While Samurai Ifraid is an Attack Type. Offense and Defense are good together, but they come to a close call in battle."  
Ren glanced over at the spiky-haired bruenette, her gloved hands on the railing as she cheered on the duel which they hoped was in Zyro's favor.  
"What do you mean, Zyro's beaten Yoshio before." She inquired with interest, "If he's won before than he can win again."  
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." A familiar voice spoke, causing the 4 friends to look over and see Sakyo Kurayami walking towards them, closely followed by Takanosuke Shishiya.

"Sakyo?" Shinobu questioned, "What are you and Takanosuke doing here?" The Dragon blader grunted slightly, the part of his hair inevitably covering his eyes bouncing as he flicked his head slightly; almost as if to say 'I'm fabulous' - at least in Shinobu's head.  
"Same as you!" Takanosuke said energetically with a smile, "We came to watch the tournament with our new teammates!"  
Sakyo inertly sighed at the boy, and decided to speak.  
"Zyro may have a good chance at winning," He said, "But that does not mean he doesn't have a chance at losing either." Red eyes made their way over to the heated battle of the Ifraid and Golem Bladers.  
"Everyone has new strategies, and no doubt have grown even stronger." The 5 around him looked at the Dragon Blader in astonishment as he spoke, making sure to pay attention to his words as Sakyo was no one of the most patient of people.  
"Though even I doubt that Zyro would lose to someone like Yoshio." He said, "Kira Hayama is the one most in Zyro's league. For Zyro to lose to him, would not be a surprise."

"But Zyro's not going to lose!" Ren protested, bringing her attention away from the battle.  
"Zyro's got all of us by his side cheering him on, there's no way he can lose!" Sakyo gazed at her for a moment, an unintentional irritated light in those eyes, before looking back to the battle at hand.

"Now!" Zyro cried, drawing the attention of everyone. "Special move! Burning Uppercut!" A transparent spirit of an armored samurai appeared upon the field, its fists blazing with fire that could be felt from the stands; granted that it was just an illusion. Even with how many people had seen Zyro's special move, it amazed them every time.  
"Come on, Zyro!" Sakyo heard Takanosuke exclaim, joining in the cheering crowd as Bandit Golem and Samurai Ifraid clashed fiercely with each other. The redhead watched the battle in silence, looking upon the spirits of Ifraid and Golem as they clashed with each other. Only from that did he spot the movement of what looked like fabric flowing in the breeze; torn fabric that looked like wings half-stripped of their beautiful white feathers.  
A scarf, from the shadows of a nearby building where somewhere stood, watching the duel with shadowed eyes. Almost anyone could recognize that scarf; including Sakyo.

 _"Is that..?.."_ Sakyo thought to himself, before an explosion from the stadium drew his attention away from that, everything being blocked from their view as a huge cloud of dust arose from the Cyclone Bey Stadium, concealing the beys and the Bladers from sight.  
Everyone fell silent in dreaded tension, no one daring to make a sound as the dust slowly cleared.  
Eyes widened as they all saw Bandit Golem embedded into the outer crater of the Cyclone Bey Stadium, while Samurai Ifraid remained spinning in the center of the Stadium.

"I would say I don't believe it, but I totally do!" Blader Gai announced from overhead, "The winner is Zyro Kurogane!" A grin crossed Zyro's face as his Bey flew back into his hand, holding it up in triumph from his victory.  
"Yeah!" Ren cheered as she nearly jumped up and down, "Way to go, Zyro!" Zyro glanced at them all and gave a thumbs up towards them.  
"Nice going, Zyro!" Eight exclaimed cheerfully with both hands in the air, but making sure to support himself on the railing.  
Madoka smiled softly at Zyro's victory, looking down at Maru as she cheered as well. "Yeah, way to go Zyro!" The young pinkette exclaimed happily, though holding her laptop firmly in one hand to not drop it. Madoka spotted a small smile on Tsubasa's face, apart from the huge grin that had made its way onto Benkei's, which was no surprise. "Looks like we'll be off to a good start.." The silverette said as they all gazed out upo Zyro's victory. Yoshio, however, had fallen to his knees in his defeat, feeling Kira's - not the mention the rest of the former DNA bladers' - eyes staring into his back in disapproval at his defeat.

He even felt it as Kira's eyes left him as he walked away to speak to him later, leaving the rest of the former DNA bladers there to mentally make him feel ashamed of himself. "Hey, Yoshio." A kind voice said from above him, drawing the much larger blader's attention to look up into the blue eyes of Zyro Kurogane.  
A smile was placed upon his face as he instead looked upon him with astonishment and approval that his teammates didn't give him; at least, they didn't give him much of it. Surely they were disappointed, but they were still teammates, right?  
"That was an _awesome_ duel!" Zyro exclaimed as he smiled at the much larger blader, a light in his eyes as he watched Yoshio stand from on his knees. "You definitely deserved the win, Zyro Kurogane.." The green-haired blader said to the dual-haired one, "But one day me and my Golem will beat you."  
That kind of talk of course never dampened Zyro's blader's spirit, and instead the ginger-ravenette ended his hand to Yoshio.

"And I can't wait when you do!" Zyro said with a fire that blazed with eyes that were clear as water, and - forgetting the teammates and leader that he had let down - Yoshio took Zyro's hand in his much larger one, being careful not to hurt it and watched as the Fire Blader ran off to join with his friends, save for the blond and the redhead.  
Looking at them solemnly, Yoshio's gaze turned to Bandit Golem between his larger fingers. There was always something odd about Zyro Kurogane, that was something that could never be denied; maybe it was just the way that he dueled with such a passion it was frightening.  
Or maybe it was the way he saw others through battles...

* * *

A soft smile crossed Gingka's face as he watched Zyro run up to his friends, who were gathered around him in excitement save for Sakyo who just stood there with his arms crossed as he watched Takanosuke fuss innocently over Zyro's victory. It wasn't one of his normal dorky smiles that he often sported for them all, but a softer one that shined through to his maturity over the years he had been gone. Or maybe it was what happened to him at..  
No, it wasn't exactly the time to think about that now.  
What he would focus on was watching Zyro and his friends soon become the Japan representatives once they beat the former DNA bladers.  
That is, that is what many hoped would happen. But that hope only brought his situation to mind even more, torturing his very soul as he looked at Zyro and tried to see an innocent boy with the desire and blader's spirit to win; but when he looked at him, all he could see is what Zyro would turn into once he learned the truth of what he had meant about what he had told him earlier that day, and that look that he pictured burned his soul more than anything ever could.

Why - oh dear god _why_ \- had he ever gotten Zyro involved with all of this. He never regretted telling him to strive to be a great duelist, to follow his dream and surpass the Legendary Bladers with his friends by his side.  
He didn't regret coming back to Metal Bey City and reminding Zyro of the importance of the Blader's Spirit that lead them on through any challenge whether thick or thin. He didn't regret ever being an inspiration to Zyro and giving him Samurai Ifraid, telling him to follow the path he wished to take to surpass him who had defeated Nemesis.  
Even now has he looked upon the smile that crossed Zyro's face, he wished that innocence could stay there for just a little while longer before he knew the truth.  
Before he put the pieces together with his friends and they were corrupted by what he had done.  
All he wanted was for Zyro to remain the innocent child that he could still be for the time being. After all, it wasn't a role that he would have forever.

"Zyro.." The redhead whispered so softly it came out as a wisp of wind that disappeared into the breeze, "All I wish is that you would never change.."  
And like the breeze that fluttered across the air, the Pegasus Blader disappeared to other whereabouts in the city, his words floating on the wind before they disappeared into meaningless nothings that wouldn't mean anything as they traveled through space and time. Gingka Hagane regretted few things in his life.  
He was a carefree spirit who made his own path, yet allowed fate to tangle in with the mix as his guide with destiny.  
Zyro had learned from the Legendary Blader, as had thousands across the world who had been reached by his spirit, growing and striving to make someone like him proud of them and create a path to the future.  
Gingka Hagane regretted very few things. One of the few things he regretted was lying to his friends...

* * *

Madoka smiled as she watched Zyro excitedly celebrate his victory in one spot with his friends and teammates, the sight reminding her so much of Gingka and them when they were young, remembering how Gingka had fierce battles that often ended in explosion, Benkei cheering on Kyoya whenever he dueled in a booming voice, Masamune arguing with Gingka about who was the Number 1 blader ever, Kenta jumping on and celebrating excitedly with Yu like the small and innocent children they were.  
Maru reminded her of herself, of how she observed every battle on her laptop and fixed their Beys whenever they took damage in battle - which had mostly been always, mind you!  
Tsubasa had been the quiet one, but with that dark power awakening at the damnedest of times and had scared them all; but the silverette eventually got over it once all of it was over, that other side of him never returning; that, or laying dormant in his mind until the right time.

"I can't wait to study this new data from their Bey's, Chief!" Maru said happily, skimming over the data she had collected from the battle with her violet eyes before looking up. Madoka looked down at the pinkette and smiled, "Well, I suggest that you start gathering up what you can, Maru." The brunette advised, "There's no telling what you'll get from the next battle."

"Got it, Chief!"

And without any further words, Maru ran off to do her research on the battle that had just taken place.  
Madoka looked out towards the sky above the stadium with a gentle look, remembering that Gingka wasn't by her side at this moment but that he had hopefully watched the battle from somewhere afar.  
 _"Madoka.."_ Madoka's eyes widened when he heard his voice in a near whisper, glancing around the room and expecting to see him somewhere in there. But he wasn't. "Madoka?" The brunette looked over at Tsubasa, who was now looking at her with Benkei with a concerned look. "Are you alright?" The silverette asked out of his concern for his friend. Madoka looked at him with her turquoise eyes for a moment before she simply nodded with a reassuring smile.  
"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered. Tsubasa just nodded with an unconvinced look, putting a hand on her shoulder and walking with her and Benkei towards the door.

"Come on, we have things to do." Tsubasa said as they walked towards the door, Madoka glancing back over her shoulder.  
She could have sworn she had heard someone say her name just then, but maybe it had just been Tsubasa when she had been caught up in her thoughts about Gingka.

 _"It was probably nothing.."_ She concluded in her thoughts and left the room with the 2 of her friends. Yet it wasn't nothing; it wasn't.


	3. Chapter 2 - Illness

Chapter 2 - Illness

* * *

In need for a bit of celebration, Zyro and the others - except Takanosuke and and Sakyo - had gone over to Bull Bull Burger where Benkei was happily obliging to celebrate with them.  
Maru had happily come along with them, bringing her laptop along with her as she still wished to gather even more information on Samurai Ifraid granted with the amount that she already had from Zyro, but she was a proud Data Collector and a limit to knowledge wasn't going to stop her.

"Who do you thinks gonna be the next to battle?" Ren asked to them all, though she looked over at Shinobu so that it didn't seem that she was talking to no one.  
"I think I heard the Director say that it might be you against Genjuro!" Maru stated cutely, "But then again, I'm probably wrong. I'll have to ask Chief about it." Ren took a sip of her soda before setting it down.  
"Well if I have to face Genjuro again, then I'll sure as hell beat him." The blond said with a solid statement in her voice.  
"And we'll be cheering you on from the sidelines!" Zyro said with a dorky smile that Ren took one glance at, and immediately looked away from, pulling the collar of her jacket up more to hide the light pink tinge that covered her cheeks.  
"Well, I can't wait!" Said Benkei, "And when ya win, the meal will be on me!" Maru sweat-dropped at Benkei, her lavender eyes giving him a weird look. "No offense, Manager.." She began, "But I do doubt that you would actually do that, considering the business you get."

"I have to agree with the kid on this one." Kite said as he sipped his soda, while Benkei had anime tears streaming down his face simply because he knew they were right.

"Well if not, then I hope I didn't arrive to the party late." The familiar voice drew everyone's attention towards the door, where there stood a familiar redhead with a headband that kept his bangs up and out of his face, and a scarf with shredded ends that had been engraved there by time.  
"Gingka!" Zyro exclaimed out of happiness, a smile gracing his face. The redhead simply smiled back.  
"Did you see my battle earlier today?" Zyro asked eagerly.

"Who wouldn't of seen it, Zyro?" Gingka asked with a smile as he went to sit beside him at the counter.  
"Well, you weren't with Chief, the Director, and Manager earlier.." Maru pointed out.

"Yeah, where were ya?" Benkei asked, curious as well.  
"I lost track of time.." Gingka explained with an apologetic look, "But I'm pretty sure that they show it all across Metal Bey City, so you can be sure I didn't miss it." Zyro gave the redhead an appreciated smile, before taking another gulp of his soda down.  
"Well, I can only guess what you want, Gingka." Benkei said with a grin as he looked at his old friend. And to his great surprise, the Pegasus Blader simply shook his head. "Nah, I'm not hungry.." The redhead spoke.

For many moments did Benkei stare at his old friend, earning weird looks from the younger bladers at the counter.  
"Well, I never thought I'd live to hear _that_ one, B-bull!" Gingka simply sweat-dropped. Yes, Benkei was exactly the way he remembered him to be, only now he wasn't following Kyoya around frequently. "Well, I'm glad you saw it, Gingka!" Zyro said happily at the redhead beside him, who simply smiled back.  
"How _would_ I miss it?" The Pegasus Blader questioned playfully, "They only show it everywhere."  
"He does have a point.." Eight pointed out thoughtfully, nomming down on one of his french fries. "Well, Metal Bey City is especially dedicated to it after all." Maru said with pride in her voice, "Granted the rest of the world is as well, Metal Bey City is the center of the Beyblade era!" Gingka smiled down at the pinkette on the other side of Zyro.  
"And I'm not surprised it hasn't changed in the 5 years I've been gone.." Said the redhead. "Speaking of which, Gingka.." Benkei said as he looked at the Pegasus Blader, "Where did ya go for the past 5 years, b-bull?"

"You know," The redhead started off with a shrug, "I trained, went to Europe, saw the Eiffel Tower - always wanted to see it -, found some strong Bladers to train with, went to Africa to see the pyramids.. Did a lot more training, snapped a few necks in Saudi Arabia-" Shinobu nearly choked on his soda when the redhead said that, who faltered to think for a moment.  
"You did _what_?.." Ren asked in utter shock and confusion as they all stared at the redhead who looked like he was on the verge of rolling on the floor laughing.  
"I'm _kidding_.." He said with laughter in his voice, which was followed by an awkward silence before chuckles turned into giggles, which turned into everyone at the counter struggling to stay on their chairs.  
Gingka was probably the one who looked the most ridiculous, putting a hand over his mouth as he suppressed laughter. At least, they knew it to merely be laughter.. _"The less they suspect.. The better.."_ It was a good thing they were laughing now..  
Soon, they wouldn't have anything to be laughing about...

* * *

 _Laughing_

Eyes of red stared at the screen, that sickening yet oh so delightful sound filling his ears delicately.  
The expression he made was half a smirk and half a sneer, his gaze focused mainly on one individual who's behavior - though his friends failed to notice - was a bit off. Of course, this is exactly what he had been hoping for, and he took the sickest of joys from seeing the pain and suffering of him.. Of course, that was a given despite the faint ache in his blackened heart...  
It was a slow process, and above all it was painful; yes it would be take awhile for him to fall, but he had patience.

 _Laughing_

That sound.  
That was the sound he would he longer make, that would soon distort and be choked away by pain and agony that he may or may not be able to handle. Honestly, he didn't care.

 _Laughing_

It was the sound of happiness that would soon be cut off, distancing him from his friends both emotionally and psychically, creating a side to him that had never existed before. But it was side that was soon to be created, and was already now in the making; or perhaps it was something that had indeed always been there.

 _Laughing_

How it sickened him. But it amused him so, watching that smiling face that would soon be wiped from existence, and then victory would be all his.

 _Laughing_

Yes, it would take awhile, and it would be a slow and painful process before he finally fell, before he could finally get what he wanted. Yet it would a process that he would sickeningly enjoy with every fiber of his being, and perhaps hate in a part that he himself hated.  
It would not be quick, it would take time for it to finally work, for him to fall to its abilities and be out of the way, but that didn't matter; he had all the time in the world...

* * *

"You actually stayed with _monks_?" Kite asked out of astonishment at the Legendary Blader. "Yeah," Gingka said with a smile, "I guess those years when my dad taught me how to speak Greek actually did pay off for something."  
"What did they train you in?" Ren asked from curiosity, fully indulged in their conversation. "Well, I don't entirely know myself.." Gingka said with a dorky expression, "Really, all they did was meditate and worship the Greek gods.. And believe me, meditating takes a lot of practice to actually do."  
Eight's green eyes shone with admiration wards the older blader. "Is it true that monks actually mendibated-"  
"Meditated.." Kite corrected. "-Uh, right that! Is it true they used to do it with dragons?" Gingka smiled in a dorky way at the young bluenette, and scratched his cheek slightly.  
"Now that's a question I'd want the answer to too.." The redhead admitted, "If I ever see them again, I'll definitely have to ask them.. Only they aren't really ones for talking.. And not to offend them or anything, but they might as well be old enough to be dragons themselves."

Once more did the entire counter break out in laughs, Benkei laughing along with them behind the counter in glee.  
Gingka laughed as well, only for it to abruptly halting as a fit of coughing overcame him, putting a hand to his mouth as he coughed violently into it; needless to say it stopped the laughter.  
"Are you okay, Gingka?" Zyro asked in concern. The redhead was unable to answer as he coughed violently, his eyes clenched shut and his other hand gripping the counter as his coughs wracked his body.  
Slowly did his fit die down, a few surfacing one last time before it finally ended. The redhead opened his golden-brown eyes, which had tears that were barely visible from coughing so hard; undoubtedly it had hurt.

"Are you okay, Gingka?" Zyro asked once again once the Legendary's Bladers coughing had died down, concerning lacing his voice.  
It took a moment for the Pegasus Blader to answer, but after a grunt or two, he finally responded.

"Y-yeah.." He said, his voice strained slightly from the intensity of his coughing, "I-I'm okay... I've just had.. A sore throat lately, its n-nothing."  
Zyro still looked at him in concern as the older blader stood up from his seat, clearing his throat a few times before looking at Benkei with an apologetic light in his eyes.  
"I'm gonna go rest up for a bit.." He said before turning away and heading for the door.  
"Uh, okay.." Benkei said awkwardly, all eyes set on the Pegasus Blader as he walked out the door and disappeared from their sight.  
Even with the redhead's reassuring words that he just had a sore throat, there was something that just made them worry perhaps a bit more than they should have.  
"Well, I hope he doesn't get sick, again.." Benkei said while he crossed his arms, "The last time I saw him sick he acted like he didn't want to get better, b-bull!" Maru looked back in curiosity, her lavender eyes wide with wonder.  
"Well, hopefully he does, Manager." She said, "After all, he is _the_ Gingka Hagane." Zyro looked down at the pinkette for a moment before once more drinking from his soda, his eyes looking down absently in thought.

He knew he should've asked the redhead what he had meant earlier, but he felt that the matter should be discussed more privately.  
The ginger-ravenette didn't know a lot about Gingka, not personally anyway, but he felt that he may indeed not want anyone else around when discussing it. Hopefully he would get to ask the redhead sooner rather than later...

* * *

Both Madoka and Maru had returned to the B-Pit after awhile, where several kids had been waiting eagerly for them to fix their Beys. Maru was of course happy to oblige to their wishes and had gotten to it right away.  
Madoka, meanwhile, was organizing things from behind the counter, sitting on her knees as she fixed things up in the cupboard.  
She was still wondering where Gingka may be, as she was concerned why he hadn't shown up to watch Zyro's battle against Yoshio; she knew Gingka just as well as anyone, and she knew he never missed a good Bey Battle if he could help it.  
The ringing of the bell at the door drew her attention, causing the brunette to draw the flat of her head up into the corner and causing a stinging pain. "Just a moment!" She insisted, rubbing her head and standing up from behind the counter.  
"How can I-" Her sentence stopped almost immediately, her mouth left open stupidly as she gazed at the redhead at the door.  
"Oh, Gingka." She said softly, a smile then crossing her face and forgetting entirely about the pain in her head.

"Hey, Madoka.." Gingka greeted in return with one of his winning smiles at the mechanic.  
"What are you doing here?" Madoka asked out of curiosity in her blue eyes. The redhead just shrugged. "I'm just not feeling too well.." He said reassuringly, "Don't worry about it." Madoka crossed her arms.  
"Well, you better not get me to take care of you again, mister." She said with furrowed brows, "Because that's definitely not something I wanna go through again.." The redhead smiled slightly and sweat-dropped, putting his hands in front of him.  
"No, no, I'm just not feeling to well, that's all.." Gingka said in a dorky tone that made Madoka smile at him, "I was just coming to rest for a bit, if that's fine with you."  
"Yeah, go ahead." She said, rubbing the back of her head; it wasn't from embarrassment, but just the pain that resurfaced on it.  
"Thanks.." Gingka said gratefully, "And make sure to put some ice on that, okay?" Madoka looked at him in wonder before he headed up the stairs and away from her sight. Before she knew it, her cheeks felt warm and a light blush was placed on her face; Gingka really did never change. Hopefully he would feel better soon enough for the next upcoming battle.

Maybe she should've asked him why he hadn't been there, but she could do that later; she wouldn't want to disturb him while he was resting...

Maru hadn't noticed Gingka come up the stairs as she worked on the Beys in front of her, her goggles over her eyes as she looked carefully upon a Bey called Stone Leviathan.  
Gingka stopped at the top of the stairs, watching the pinkette as she worked intently on fixing the Beys at hand; she really reminded him of Madoka when she fixed their friend's beys all the time.  
It was undeniable that she would probably fix Zyro's Bey, as well as the others', just like Madoka used to do for him and their friends.  
"Looks like you've got your hands full.." The redhead said softly, causing the pinkette to jump lightly in her seat and turn around.  
"Oh!" Maru exclaimed which was followed by a smile, "Hello, Mister Gingka!" Gingka gave Maru one of his warming smiles, which the pinkette gladly smiled back too.  
"Please, its just Gingka." He insisted.  
"What are you doing here?" The Data Collector asked out of curiosity. "I just came to get some rest, that's all." The redhead answered.  
"Oh right!" Maru exclaimed with a smile, turning her chair to face him, "I forgot you weren't feeling well. Chief once told me she had to take care of you when you sick once. She also said she would never wanna do that again."

"Well, I don't blame her!" Gingka exclaimed softly with a laugh, "I _was_ a pain back then... Now there's something I never thought I'd admit."  
This earned a small giggle from the pinkette. An idea then came to her mind, her lavender eyes lighting up.  
"Hey Gingka, do you know anything about Bey Mechanics?" Maru asked in interest, "Chief said you always stuck around when she was fixing Beys back then."  
Gingka gave the girl a dorky smile and scratched his head with a light blush of embarrassment. "Well, I wish I could say that I did.." He began, "But I would always end up passed out on the couch whenever I tried to pay attention."  
Another giggle come from Maru.  
"Well, I wouldn't blame you!" She exclaimed happily, "Every time I try to explain it to Zyro, he always seems like he's about to fall asleep where he's standing."  
It was Gingka's turn to chuckle softly, preventing himself from laughing so that he didn't break out in another painful fit of coughing.  
"I guess he's kind of like me, in that way..." The redhead reflected, a thoughtful look on his face.  
"Well, I don't know much about you.." Maru began, "But I don't doubt that you and Zyro could be really good friends if you plan on staying in the city." Gingka's thoughtful look disappeared was replaced with a grave one, unintentionally worrying the young girl that she had said something wrong.

"Um, Gingka?.." She asked nervously, hoping that she hadn't upset him with anything that had come out of her mouth, "Are you okay?.. It wasn't something I said, was it?"  
Realizing he had worried the girl, Gingka gave Maru a gentle smile with soft eyes. "Sorry.." He apologized, "I-it wasn't anything you said, don't worry." Gingka was relieved when he saw Maru's shoulders relax.  
"I'm gonna go get some rest, if that's fine with you." He said kindly.  
"Oh!" Maru realized, "Sorry, I didn't mean to keep away from sleeping. I'll see you later, then." With a nod from the redhead, Maru watched from the corner of her eye as he walked away and up the stairs to the living quarters of the B-Pit.  
Faintly did she hear him cough once more, a feeling of uneasiness at that sound emerging in the pit of her stomach when she remembered what happened earlier. Maru never did know Gingka the way Madoka, Benkei, and Tsubasa had all those years ago, but even she had to feel worry about the Legendary Blader. Hopefully he'd be better by the next battle, which they all knew was coming up soon. Hopefully that cough died down as well.

Though - unlike her - Gingka knew better than that.

Even as he walked towards his room, clearing his throat every few seconds as if he had a cold. His throat felt unnaturally dry, stinging every time he swallowed; he knew better than the naive little minds of the younger Bladers, only Zyro's mind would soon not be as naive as it currently was.  
The redhead leaned against the door once he closed it, coughing into his hand almost as violently as he had done before.  
"I shouldn't..." He began to himself as his coughing died down once more, "Have been so.. Careless... I can't, let them..."  
Another hard cough wracked his body, stopping his silent conversation with himself. As much as he wanted help, Gingka knew that he could tell no one about what was happening and what had happened.

It was too risky, and he knew that perfectly well; he had to keep it a secret as long as he could, hide it well enough so that suspicions wouldn't rise to high - but that wasn't one of his strengths..  
Even as he gazed upon his palm and witnessed the smallest drops of scarlet that made him want to run to the bathroom and vomit into the toilet, Gingka couldn't tell anyone; but maybe one day, when he had long since left them to other waters, they might be able to forgive him for his lies...

* * *

"Everything is in preparation, Director." Said a female worker of the WBBA from the screen that Tsubasa faced, "Everything will be ready by mid-afternoon tomorrow."  
"Thanks Hikaru." Tsubasa said in gratitude toward the female bluenette, "I'll get back to you if I need anything else."  
Hikaru only nodded and disappeared from the screen, leaving Tsubasa in silent solitude once more for the time being. Hikaru had been one of the few of their friends that had remained in Metal Bey City, excluding Madoka, Benkei, and himself.  
Kenta had been around for awhile before they parted ways as well, the same went for Yu - who had still been his ice-cream loving self when he left Metal Bey.  
He had seen Kyoya's signal somewhere in Northern Africa, and Masamune had left back for America years ago, even before Gingka had ever departed overseas.  
Needless to say, Tsubasa's bonds with Benkei, Hikaru, and Madoka had grown even from what they had been. They had had some great times in their era of Beyblade, and hopefully those years would continue on peacefully and full of life.

"Tsubasa!" A voice from behind him spoke, causing Tsubasa to turn around swiftly from surprise; if his hair had still been long as it was years ago it would have swished around him gracefully - he was never embarrassed by the the fact that it used to.  
Upon the screen did he see Madoka, a smile on her face and light in her turquoise eyes. "Sorry for startling you." Madoka apologized with a smile, "How's everything coming along?"  
"I just finished talking with Hikaru." The silverette explained, "She said everything will be ready by mid-noon tomorrow." Madoka sighed in relief.

"That's good.." She claimed, "I still always wonder how they fix the stadium so fast, but I guess they've been doing it for years."  
Tsubasa simply nodded in thought, a hand on his chin for a moment before he remembered. "Oh yeah," He muttered and his golden-brown eyes went back to the brunette. "Have you seen Gingka at all?"

A smile once more crossed Madoka's face.  
"Oh, yeah!" She exclaimed in happiness, "Maru said he showed up at Benkei's earlier. Then he left and came here. He said he wasn't feeling so well, so I let him go upstairs to rest." This time it was Tsubasa's turn to sigh in relief.  
"That's good.. I don't doubt he caught Zyro's battle, huh?" "You know him, Tsubasa.." Madoka sweat-dropped, "He would never miss a Bey Battle even his life depended on it. And besides, it is shown everyone around the city, so I don't really think anyone would've missed it." Tsubasa produced a warm smile.  
"Yeah, its been like that for decades, as well as I know..." He reflected.  
"Also, Tsubasa." Said Madoka, "You do the Bladers of a upcoming duel, right?" "Of course." Tsubasa answered, "It'll be Xiao and Kite, and after their battle will be Genjuro against Rin. I don't doubt that they'll all put up a good fight."

Madoka smiled with a small chuckle. "That's for sure!" She exclaimed happily, "Especially after their last battles.. It'll definitely be one worth watching. Hopefully Gingka's better by tomorrow... You know how he gets when he gets sick."  
Tsubasa chuckled from the memory, well remembering Gingka's complaining about having to take medicine at all, and whining that he couldn't go out and have Bey Battles with any of his friends.  
But he _was_ just a child back then around the ages of 12-13, all of them were; that had been long before their battle with Nemesis all those years ago. "Well, hopefully it isn't too severe." Tsubasa said, opening his golden-brown eyes once more to look at the brunette on the screen.

"Lord knows it would kill him to stay indoors when he could be watching the battle in person." Madoka laughed from her heart, a smile that evidently screamed happiness on her face.  
"Well.." She said as she collected herself once more, "I'll see you later. I have some kids who are coming by for their Beys soon."  
"Alright." With that, Madoka's face left the screen, once more leaving it blank to Tsubasa's eyes. With a heavy sigh did the silverette turn around in his chair and look at the papers in front of him, while he had already finished most of them he kept trying to settle his tired mind over all of them.  
He would never say that being the President of the WBBA was an easy job, but there was no gain without pain, so he endured it through the day; he still wondered where exactly Ryo had gone after Tsubasa took over his position, though maybe he had gone back to Koma Village with Hyoma, if he was still there. But the best thing to focus on at the moment was his work and making sure that everything for the next battle would be ready.  
And hopefully Gingka would get better in time for it...

* * *

Zyro walked with his friends down the sidewalk through Metal Bey City, talking cheerfully as they wandered down the street.

"I can't wait for the battle tomorrow!" Zyro exclaimed cheerfully, "I wonder who its gonna be, though.." Ren smiled wryly for some reason.  
"Well, I kind of eavesdropped a bit-" Ren received dumbfounded looks from her friends, "-but I think Kite's going against someone.. I don't think I got who though."

"Well, big bro can beat anyone he comes across!" Eight said proudly from beside his older brother, "He'll beat whoever it is, I know it!" With a warming smile did Kite glance down at his brother, his glasses flashing in the sun and pushing them up on his long nose to make sure they didn't do so - not that he ever really complained about it.  
"Well, whoever we're gonna face, we're gonna give it our all!" Zyro said optimistically, pumping his fist in the air. Shinobu shook his head at Zyro's naivety, sometimes forgetting how innocent the ginger-ravenette actually was.  
"Hey, maybe we should go to the Bey Park!" Ren suggested in delight, "That way, we can be ready for tomorrow!"

"Yeah, let's go!" Eight agreed happily, and if Eight wanted to go than Kite would always oblige to go with him.  
"Yeah, I'm totally up for some Bey Battling!" Zyro exclaimed in excitement, earning the lightest of pink hues upon Ren's face, pulling her collar up a bit both in an attempt to hide it and to occupy herself so that she didn't have to continue looking at Zyro's adorableness that she loved so much.

"Come on, big bro!" Eight said in excitement, grabbing Kite's hand and pulling him along down the sidewalk; the brunette didn't struggle, and all he said was, "Okay, okay!"  
Only out of surprise did Shinobu and Ren run after them.

"Hey, wait up!" Shinobu yelled after them, hurrying after the Unabara brothers. Zyro began to hurry after them as well, before the frantic flashing of the large television attached to the blimp that flew above the city caught his blue eyes for some unknown reason.  
But whatever it was, it hypnotized the Fire Blader to stop in his tracks from chasing after his friends, his eyes wandering up in a trance towards the screen that flew above Metal Bey. The screen turned white, a faint static lining the outside of it as if it had malfunctioned for some unknown reason.

Black, bold words then made their way across the screen, blue eyes widening without recognition as every fiber in his body seemed to die at that moment and leave him cold and alone in a freezing tundra of nothingness.  
 _"What?... No.."_ Zyro's thoughts formed like mist in a bog, dark and silent like the shadows in the night.  
No, that couldn't be for him.

No.

He could see the darkness.

No.

It was coming for him. Run, dammit!

No.

His vision blurring sharply, yet those words painted clear in front of his eyes.  
He hated the dark, and it was broad daylight.  
It couldn't be possible, it wasn't!

No.

Why did he have to be claustrophobic?.. A weakness he hated, it couldn't be like this!

Stop it.

 _Stop it_...

..No...

"Hey, Zyro!" Everything came back to reality, the darkness fading as quickly as it had come, the screens returning to normal with their meaningless advertisements that were meant to annoy. What had happened.  
"Zyro?" A silent gasped escaped his mouth, his eyes immediately heading towards whoever had spoken to him. There he saw the blond he knew too well, a concerned look in her brown eyes; the Unabara brothers and Shinobu waiting a little ways behind her, all of them having their eyes upon the Fire Blader.  
"Are you coming?" Ren asked in curiosity, looking at Zyro intently.

"Oh, yeah!" Zyro said cheerfully, shaking the feeling off like a stray hair, "Sorry, I dozed off for a minute.." Ren simply smiled before pulling the ginger-ravenette along, hurrying to their friends to head towards the Bey Park.  
As much as he tried to deny it, Zyro couldn't shake off that feeling that he had gotten when he had seen those words.  
But like the world that had previously surrounded him, they couldn't of been real. But they echoed in his mind and stayed plastered in front of his eyes like tape.

They had chilled him to the core unlike anything else ever had, and even though he didn't entirely believe they had been meant for him, he was unable to rip apart that feeling that someone was near.  
With eyes that were everywhere.  
Why did it have to make him feel so closed in.

Don't give into weakness..

Don't fall to your knees in defeat..

You're not weak, you're strong..

Aren't you?..

And even at that moment, golden-brown eyes simultaneously looked up to the sky in horror, a feeling pooling in the pit of his stomach that made him beyond uncomfortable.  
He already knew. No one was safe..

He had to depend on him..

Don't give in...

But those words made him want to..

 **I'M WATCHING YOU...**

* * *

 **Just a quick note here at the end of this chapter: Zyro's claustrophobia (and slight fear of the dark) is my own headcanon that I decided to put in here. I can't remember ever seeing anything that would prove it wrong in the anime, so I'm just going with it. It will have a bit of significance** **later on as well.**

 **Thanks! X3**


	4. Chapter 3 - Waking Darkness

Chapter 3 - Waking Darkness

* * *

Darkness.

It was all he saw when he closed his eyes, and he hated it.

Any open darkness was enough for him to just handle without beginning to panic, but feeling closed in like he was a doll inside a duck-tape sealed box horrified him to the core of his soul, and always caused him to panic.  
That's when he always saw the walls closing in, and the whispers in his head that drove him to the point of insanity and took away all hopes of escape from his being.  
But then the lights would turn on, and everything would be fine.  
It was a phobia he was born with, ever since he was little had been unable to go in the closet and fight the monsters that didn't exist, nor was he ever able to go into the basement of the small house he lived in with his parents, he could never go into the back shed with its spiders and creepy crawlers that lurked.  
He even refused to head to the bathroom whenever the power went out during windstorms without some source of light.  
He hated admitting his weakness of claustrophobia, and he also hated admitting that he still slept with a nightlight, no matter where he went.

Zyro could easily tell Madoka as he stayed at the B-Pit, and she would leave some sort of light on for him so that he felt more secure, but he couldn't even admit it to any of his closest friends back in his home town that he had claustrophobia.  
For years he had just faked it, breathing deeply whenever the power went out at school or staying by the windows in the classroom for light.  
If he ever told anyone, they may think he was weak, use it against him and break him down into nothing; above all things, he didn't want anyone using his weakness as their shield.  
Sighing, the ginger-ravenette sat up in bed, a ray of his nightlight on the left hand wall shining beside the bed of the guest bedroom.  
The cold air night air of the room hit his exposed arms, since he merely wore a tank top and boxers to sleep in on warm nights like this.

Tired blue eyes looked towards the window in the room, which was cracked open the slightest bit so that some air could be let in as it was dry a cotton; he honestly hated hot nights like this the most out of anything.  
Though it was almost summer, so it was reasonable for it to be this hot in the middle of the night.  
It also meant that that the days once be longer and the nights shorter, but that was necessarily a benefit for him as the light would remain a bit longer. Unlike his nightlight which was currently flickering in and out of light and darkness like someone trying to escape unconsciousness.  
Zyro's blue eyes looked in near panic towards the dying night light, a pleading look on his face as he watched it carefully.

 _"Come on.. Don't give out on me now.."_ He pleaded in his mind as though it could hear him, watching as the light dimmed and flickered fluently like a candle flame in the breeze.  
Another flicker, and Zyro's fingers began to twitch, holding both of his hands together to keep them still.  
Another flicker, and the light went out completely.  
Zyro waited for it to come back, hoping that it was just a minor thing and it would relight itself. He waited for several moments, clinging to the moonlight that poured in through his window as his last resort.  
Zyro sighed, accepting that the nightlight he had used since he came to Metal Bey had finally gone out. Postponing his shaking self, Zyro threw the blankets off of his body, his boxers somewhat sticking to his thighs from the sweat caused by the blankets he had over himself.  
Stretching himself out a bit, Zyro got up and rubbed his eyes, heading for the door while he still clung to the moonlight in the room.  
Hopefully Madoka had some small light bulbs for night lights somewhere in the B-Pit, though he couldn't even imagine where she would keep them if she did.

Taking hold of the door handle, Zyro braced himself and clung to the light from his window, mentally taking a piece of it and storing it with him to keep his mind together as much as possible.  
With shaking hands did the ginger-ravenette open the door, the darkness of the hallway meeting him and stepping out into the rest of the building.  
Zyro clung to the shard of moonlight that he had mentally within his grasp, desperately trying not to let the darkness get to him as he looked both ways down the hallway. Only one way had light in that direction, which came from a window at the edge of the hall; needless to say, Zyro went towards it.  
He didn't know if this way had anything in it at all, but all he wanted was to cling to the light, to ignore the darkening halls that slowly began to close in around him.

One.

He took a deep breath in, a deep breath out, one hand on the wall next to him as he counted in his mind, focusing on breathing evenly and keeping his balance.

Two.

Its okay, there's nothing to freak out about.  
Its going to be fine, you're going to be fine. Just focus on deep breathing, and it'll be fine.

Three.

He could feel the walls closing in behind him, but it wasn't time to worry about that, it was going to be fine, nothing was going to happen. He could withstand the darkness.

Four.

He could do this, he wasn't a scared child anymore who was afraid that there were monsters under the bed and in the closet.  
It was okay.

Five-

A sound.

Zyro, focusing on breathing deeply and the light ahead of him, listened closely as he heard a faint sound from ahead, coming from one of the rooms. Walking steadily, making sure not to focus on the closing walls behind him, the feeling of something gnawing at his heels and crawling along his back like an arachnid slowly coming onto him and making him shiver, though he kept his pace.  
The ginger-ravenette soon realized that the sound was coming from the bathroom on this floor, the light from the room showing faintly through the door.  
What was that sound?  
It sounded like something falling into a bowl of water, but frequently. He waited, breathing deeply and still counting.

Seven.

It had stopped for a moment, and then it was there again, like something that was neither a liquid nor a solid falling into a bowl of water and splashing.  
Was someone.. Vomiting in there?  
With a shaking body did Zyro walk a little ways further down the hall, the darkness creeping up on him and making everything around him begin to close in.

Deep breaths.

Nine.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Ten.

Zyro nearly jumped when he heard the bathroom door unlock, though just stood there breathing as he heard the toilet flush, a moment passing before he heard the doorknob turn; upon instinct did Zyro back away from the doorway, his breathing faltering for a moment and the walls closing in around him before he found it again.  
The door opened on him, the light in the bathroom still on and outlining the silhouette of a familiar, and older blader.

"Zyro?.." Gingka questioned, clearing his throat slightly as his eyes adjusted to the darkness once more.  
Zyro's shoulders calmed when he saw the redhead, who was in turn dressed in a tank top and sweatpants to sleep in - how he managed with the temperature, Zyro would never know.  
"Oh, hey Gingka.." Zyro said out of relief, clinging to the light from the bathroom and from the window that wasn't to far away, "What are you doing up?.."  
Gingka smiled kindly, shrugging softly. Surprisingly, he still wore his scarf around his neck - apparently this guy could withstand a lot of heat.  
"I just had to go to the washroom.." Gingka said, clearing his throat once more, "Its no big deal.. What about you?" Zyro faltered for a moment, counting in his head still as he ignored the walls closing in behind and around him.  
"Well.. I was just looking for something... That's all." Zyro said plainly, feeling bad for not admitting the truth to him, "Also.. I wanted to ask you something.."

Gingka had a look of slight confusion on his face, and listened intently. "What did you mean by what you said yesterday?.." Zyro asked, "I've been meaning to ask, but I never got the chance.." Gingka looked at the younger blader for a moment, completely silent with a paniced look behind his eyes that Zyro didn't notice in the dark.

".. I left that for you to find out on your own.." Was all Gingka said, averting his eyes away from the Zyro and a saddened feeling entering him as he did.  
"Well, okay, if you insist..." Zyro said in a down tone, focusing inertly to fight away the feeling of a thousand knives diving into his back from behind; don't let it show, don't let him know you're weakness.

"Hey, Zyro.." Gingka said softly, blue eyes wandering up into golden-brown ones with kindness pouring through them, "Here."  
Gently did Gingka take Zyro's arm around the elbow, his hand slowly leading up to his hand that left a tingling sensation in Zyro's arm - Gingka's body temperature felt a colder for some reason. With a gentleness that just somehow came with his nature, Gingka held Zyro's palm up, and placed something small that had been in his own other hand in the center of it.  
"Something tells me you're gonna need this." Gingka's touch left Zyro's shivering skin like a ghost, his touch hypnotic and strange that Zyro couldn't recognize it.  
With wide blue eyes did Zyro look at what Gingka gave him, and saw in his palm a tiny light bulb for his nightlight.  
With confusion and shock, Zyro looked up to the redhead.

"Uuhh..." The ginger-ravenette sputtered out in a dumbfounded tone. All Gingka did was smile, a smile that warmed the hearts of so many people that it was captivating.

"Don't worry," Gingka said with a kind reassurance, "You're secret's safe with me."

With those words, Gingka turned around and walked away down the short distance of the hallway towards his room.  
"Wait, how did you-" Zyro began to say, before Gingka spoke over his shoulder.  
"I have my ways.." Was the words he spoke before he headed back into his room on the left right hand side.  
Zyro completely forgot about the walls that were closing in upon him looking down at the hope he had to survive the darkness for the rest of the night.  
How Gingka knew about his claustrophobia, he had no idea - but he was honestly thankful that he did.  
Zyro hurried back to his room, ignoring the creeping walls that reached out to him and barely grabbing the back of his shirt before he hurried into the guest bedroom and closed the door on the creeping walls.  
Zyro sighed in relief that he was out of those torturing halls, and walked over to his highlight which hung plugged into the wall.  
With a tired cloud over him, Zyro unplugged the dead nightlight, sitting down on the edge of his bed as he unscrewed the warm light bulb from it, and tossed it into the waste bin near his bed.  
A yawn overtook the boy before he screwed in the cold, unused light bulb into the socket, making sure it was in there good and tight before he plugged it back into the wall. Since it was already switched to on, it shone brightly just like new and made the young blader feel more safe and secure than he had.  
To have that secure light was something he might die for, just to feel safe like he always had in his mother's arms.

The worries he had had disappeared from his mind, his shoulders relaxed from the tense state that they had been in, and his eyes were free of the fear that had sought to consume him.  
He never let it happen, even if sometimes his phobia did get the best of him he sought control of it. For several minutes did Zyro just look at the nightlight, its gleam so welcoming that he could get lost in it for eternity and never wish to go back.  
Gingka had helped him again, he had - perhaps unknowingly - saved Zyro from being caved in within his mind, hearing the voices speaking to him and draining away all color from his world and leaving him in blackness.  
But that didn't happen - hopefully it wouldn't any time soon. With reassurance that he was safe from all creatures of the night, Zyro climbed back into bed and brought the covers up to his neck. His breathing finally softened, no longer making him feel dizzy as he had before with the amount of oxygen he may have been letting out.  
Gingka really was a kind-hearted blader, just like everybody said.. Maybe the two could be good friends.. But there something that he jst couldn't get out of his mind no matter how hard he tried. What was Gingka doing in the bathroom?  
And was he really okay as he said he was?...

* * *

The next day came with warm temperatures, warm enough for everyone to have their fans going in their houses as they went through the day.  
Zyro had actually gotten up that morning, gone downstairs subconsciously while Madoka was making breakfast with Maru and stuck his head in the freezer.  
Both of the Bey Mechanics had tried to pull Zyro from the freezer, but he stayed stuck in there (quite literally) for a good half hour; Madoka even shoved a plate past his arm and put his breakfast in there for him to eat so that he wouldn't starve. Gingka came down after awhile as well, and stood in the kitchen with Madoka and Maru watching as Zyro ate his breakfast while still having his head stuck in the freezer.  
"How long as he been in there?.." Gingka whispered almost awkwardly to the brunette beside him. "A half hour at least.." Madoka whispered back, Maru simply staring at Zyro for who knows how long now.  
"I get its hot and all, but it's not _that_ hot.." Gingka stated as he looked at  
Zyro with a weird expression, then looking over at Madoka, "Is it? 'Cause I really can't tell." Madoka glanced over at the redhead with a weird expression as well, before looking back to Zyro. Gingka simply sighed.  
"I'll get 'em out.." The redhead, scarf waving freely behind him, walked up to the young blader that had stuck his head in the freezer; he himself put his face into the freezer door as much as he could before he began speaking.

"Zyro, the freezing cold is actually a lot worse than the scorching heat," He explained, "By keeping your head and arms in there, it'll give you hypothermia and virtually freeze you in there. If you get hypothermia in there and can't pull yourself out, it'll eventually spread to the rest of your body and you may or may not eventually develop frostbite. If you get frostbite you have to get various parts of your body removed, leaving you totally useless and unable to fend or do things for yourself. You may still be there, but you will no longer be able to move ever again and be stuck in a position that you do not want to be in for the rest of your life, which also means that you will never Beyblade again."

"WHAT?!"

Gingka jumped when Zyro shouted in his ear, stumbling back and blinking rapidly several times. If that hadn't gotten Zyro out of the freezer, than nothing would've - and it did. The ginger-ravenette had pulled himself out of there at sonic speed, his face paler than it had been before (Maru could have sworn she saw icicles in his nostrils), and he actually started shaking.  
"I'm gonna go warm my face now!" With that, Zyro ran off to elsewhere in the building to warm himself up.  
"Did you just use science to get him out of the freezer?.." Maru asked in awe as Gingka closed the freezer door.  
"Well, it worked.." The redhead said with a dorky smile. "By the way, Gingka." Madoka began, "How are you feeling now?"  
"Well, better than I was." Gingka replied, "I guess resting up really did help a lot." Madoka smiled, a small blush on her face that she did her best to hide. "Well, I'm glad for that." She said, "Does that mean you'll be watching today's Bey battle between Kite and Xiao?"  
"Even if I _couldn't_ be there, I wouldn't miss it for anything." Gingka said reassuringly, scratching his cheek, "Then again, no one ever misses a Bey Battle around here."

"That's for sure!" Maru exclaimed happily, followed by a soft giggle. Gingka smiled softly at the pinkette, before looking at Madoka the same way.  
"Well, if its at 4:30, then I'll see you then." The redhead stated, "I have some things I gotta do before hand."  
"Um, okay." Madoka said softly, watching as the redhead left the room. Maru waited until she was sure the redhead wasn't listening to them, before she looked at Madoka with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.  
"You like him, don't you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Madoka's face turned crimson at her question, turning away from her apprentice.  
"W-what gives you that idea, M-Maru?.." She asked defensively, crossing her arms with a flustered look on her face. This merely caused Maru to giggle. Gingka, on the other hand, stood at the doors of the B-Pit, as if questioning whether to go out or not for his meaningless travels through the city.  
His thoughts wandered back to Zyro and the way he had helped him out last night.  
Yes, he knew Zyro was claustrophobic (He would never say how) and he had helped him find a replacement for the light bulb in his nightlight - maybe the 2 _could_ become friends.  
It would give Zyro a different and another reason to find the answers to what he had told him. But it would also make it so much more painful.  
Coughing into his hand one last time, Gingka left the B-Pit, leaving traces of meaningless existence behind...

* * *

He watched them carefully, like a child watching ants climb away into their little ant hill that they had constructed for themselves, or a pet that greatly interested them.  
They were all merely pawns in a game that he had set up himself, watching in amusement as everything went according to plan; compared to them, he was a god - well, more or less either way. He did not hail to the one who had almost taken over the Beyblade World years ago, like most would believe he probably should - there was no master above him, whether in existence or no.  
However, he would complete what the other had failed to do so long ago, and eventually victory would be his..  
There would be no one standing in his way once the process finally completed itself and rendered him completely useless, even now it was slowly making him fade away. The thought almost excited him, that everything would soon fall under his grasp and there would be no one to stop him.

He watched them all carefully, like the opponent making a foolish move with his chess pieces and himself chuckling in amusement at their failure and naivety.  
Though there was one he watched incredibly closely, to the point where he _wanted_ him to know he was watching.  
He _wanted_ him to know that he was there, that he was watching his every move and watching him crumble under the weight of his thumb over him.  
The process was slow, but he could wait for as long as he needed, it didn't matter to him; all that mattered is that they would all fall, and they would all soon bow to him - even if that wasn't really the objective.  
And then there was the younger one, the one with innocence in his eyes that had yet to be tainted by the burdens of the world - oh how it would be so much fun to watch that light disappear as he realized there was no hope.

"Oh, dear sweet children..." He whispered softly, which echoed in the large room that was covered wall to wall in televisions like a business office.  
"By the time you _ever_ know.." A smile crept onto his face, spreading across his lips like a disgusting insect that he refused to brush off, "It'll already be far to late.."

He would hear delicate footsteps from across the room behind him, the sound of heels if he was correct with himself. He didn't bother to turn around on the platform he stood on, he already knew who it was - she served him now.  
"The WBBA will soon be having its next battle between Kite Unabara and Baihu Xiao.." The unknown woman spoke, "What will you have me do?" A smile crossed his face once more, a sinister look in his shaded eyes.  
"Just play along.." He said simply, "Everything will come together in time.. And soon they will all fall.."  
His gaze turned back to one screen, a man with a scarf that flowed like wings, red hair that burned like the sun that shone over their heads.  
"Especially one..."

He was weak.

And he would soon grow weaker.

How the thought bewitched him and excited him so. They're hope would soon be no more...

* * *

The crowd roared loudly within the Bey Stadium, cheers raging out across the hundreds that had gathered there to watch the next Bey Battle.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Blader Gai called out from above, "Welcome back to the Bridge To The Future Tournament! Today, were having an exciting battle between Kite Unabara!" Said brunette walked out into the stadium with his head held high, his glasses gleaming in the sun from the reflection, "And Baihu Xiao!"  
The ravenette spoken of walked out into the stadium in turn, his head held high as well and his braid swishing around in the breeze behind him.  
"Come on, big bro!" Eight called out from the sidelines, standing on the first bar of the railings with his friends.  
"You got this, Kite!" Zyro exclaimed, "Go get 'em!" From up above Tsubasa, Madoka, Maru, Benkei, and even Gingka looked down at the Bey Stadium, watching as the crowd roared in endless cheers at Xiao and Kite stepping into the Cyclone Bey Stadium, both of them readying their Beys.  
"This'll certainly be one of those battles ya don't soon forget!" Benkei exclaimed in excitement, a huge grin on his face.  
"I doubt anyone will forget this tournament." Madoka said with a smile, and looked over at Gingka, "Right?" Golden brown eyes looked over into turquoise, a smile crossing a fair skinned face.

"Yeah.." He agreed, clearing his throat for at least the 23rd time that day. Madoka tilted her head at her old friend, noticing the slight paleness in his face. "Are you feeling okay, Gingka?.." She asked out of concern for the Legendary Blader.  
"Yeah, just allergies, I guess.." The redhead said softly before a few coughs overcame him, though this time they were lighter ones.  
They soon died down after a slightly bigger one than the rest, Gingka glancing at his hand from the corner of his eyes before crossing his arms and hiding his palms; of course, Madoka didn't think anything about it as Gingka had a tendency for crossing his arms while watching battles. She also never thought anything about it when the Pegasus Blader pulled his scarf a bit more up his neck - she didn't think he was hiding anything, he just liked to wear his scarf.  
"Let the battle begin!" Blader Gai announced from above.

"3!"

Everyone counted with them, their fingers up in symbols for the countdown.

"2!"

Gingka's eyes shifted slightly, a stinging on the outside of his neck that made him shift in the slightest bit.

"1!"

It almost burned, it tore at his flesh and almost forced him to run out of the room to somewhere where they wouldn't find him, nor be able to bother him as he dealt with what was his burden alone.

"Let it rip!"

Beys were launched from their positions, spinning around the Cyclone Bey Stadium and rotating it along with them. Cheers rang through the crowd and roared to deafening volumes that almost drowned out Blader Gai's voice if not for the loud speakers around the screen.  
Beys clashed in auras of green and blue, flashes of color in everyone's eyes as calls rang out from both bladers in a fierce confrontation.  
Eight cheered on his big brother like it was nobody else's business, followed by the excited cries of their friends, minus Sakyo who simply stood there with a solid expression and Takanosuke with the biggest grin by his side. And even though everyone saw this, Gingka couldn't entirely focus on it.  
He wanted nothing more than to stay by their side and watch the battle like he always had, but the feeling that once more pooled in the pit of his stomach demanded his attention and tried to force him away.  
Golden-brown eyes looked down at Zyro who stood there cheering from the sidelines in the stadium, an innocent and excited smile on his face that he almost couldn't bear to see - maybe it hurt too much because of what he knew would become of that innocence when he finally discovered the truth...

 _If_ he discovered the truth.

And if he did, he didn't know if it would be in time. Keeping his cool, Gingka glanced over at Madoka.  
"I'll be right back," He said softly, "Tell me if I miss anything." Madoka smiled at him. "Okay." With no further words did the redhead walk off, exiting the room and leaving only 4. When the door closed behind him, Gingka's breathing became almost rapid, hurrying down the hall to the nearest washroom that he knew of.  
"Hi, Gingka." Said a familiar voice of a light bluenette that he recognized from years ago.  
"Hey, Hikaru." The redhead said as he passed her, not stopping to look at the girl with blueish-purple eyes.  
Hikaru stared after Gingka, a slightly concerned look on her face from the redhead's slight ignorant greeting.  
Her eyes simply narrowed in the slightest bit before she continued on down the hall like that of a woman in a trance. Gingka, however, made his way into the washroom and immediately went and locked himself in a stall.

He found himself in an awkward position as he had one hand outstretched to one side of the stall, while his other shoulder leaned against the others side, his legs doing whatever they wanted yet still positioning his head over the toilet bowl.  
His bangs that hung over his headband hung over his face, his breathing heavy with a wry look in his eyes unlike before.  
Gingka placed a hand on the side of his head as dizziness nearly overcame his spirit, his vision blurry for a few moments as he fought for control over himself once more.  
The shredded ends of his scarf draped over his back, like wings that had been injured throughout time and refused to let fly again.  
 _"What's happening to me?... Why now?.."_ Gingka's thoughts ponders as he shifted his position and stood with his back against the stall door, looking up towards the ceiling and the lights that lit this silver prison that surrounded him.  
Groaning softly to himself, the redhead unlocked the stall door, wandering over to the mirror above the sink and stood in front of it with a pale face that didn't compliment him at all.  
With slightly shaking hands did he reach up to the edge of his scarf and pull it down in the slightest bit to reveal his neck to himself, which was still slightly covered by the collar of his jacket. His breath hitched, coming out shaky with what he saw in the mirror.  
Gingka pulled his scarf back up to hide his neck from not only everyone else, but himself as well - it was worse than he may have thought it was.  
And he knew they were watching.  
They were always watching...

* * *

Madoka never thought anything suspicious of it when Gingka came back, explaining what he had missed (which truly had not be anything very important) and continued watching the battle at the same time. Zyro and the others still cheered on Kite as he came extraordinarily close to finally beating Xiao for good, though the small ravenette fought back furiously with fire in his soul.  
"Come on, big bro!" Eight cheered on, a smile on his innocent face and joy in his green eyes as he almost bounced up and down on the railing.  
Zyro cheered him on as well, though his mind also seemed somewhere else other than the battle; and for a moment, he stopped cheering.  
A ringing in his ears that drowned out everything around him, everything around him slowing down to a pace that he didn't think was possible for what was happening. His head ached unlike anything he had ever felt before and his mind screamed at him.  
Before his eyes once more appeared the words he had seen previously, as if a warning that was caused by his own subconscious.

 _"What are you trying to.."_ Zyro's thoughts began, but the ringing his ears continued at a pitch that almost made him drop to the ground and discontinued his thoughts.

Was someone watching them?..

 **ALWAYS**

Someone give the answers.. What was this sensation, why was this happening to him now?

 **YOU'LL NEVER KNOW**

Who are you?...

A loud explosion from the center of the stadium immediately brought back Zyro's reality and focused his attention upon the battle.  
All noise in the stadium had stopped, perhaps even all breathing had stopped as well as time and space. But when the dust cleared, only Kite's Leviathan was left spinning in the middle, while Baihu's Berserker Byakko flew through the air and onto the ground behind him. Everyone remained silent for several moments, a murmur of wind being all that broke the silence before the crowd roared out in cries and cheers.  
"Way to go, big bro!" Eight cried out as loud as he could, Kite's gaze looked back at his friends and pushing his glasses up on his nose as his way of saying 'thanks for being there'.  
"Nice goin', Kite!" Ren cheered, throwing her arms up in the air in excitement.  
Takanosuke looked excited as well, while Sakyo could barely care less that his teammate had won; then again, Sakyo wasn't really one for showing compassion to anybody (save Takanosuke and his care for him).  
Zyro had joined in the cheering, congratulating Kite from afar with put-ups and comments. Eight had run up to his brother and tackled him into a hug when he walked back to them, the brunette happily hugging the younger of the Unabara brothers back.

Zyro's blue eyes wandered up to the place where he knew Gingka, Madoka, Benkei, Tsubasa, and Maru would be watching from above; despite it being semi far away, his eyes could see Maru jumping up and down with Madoka and Benkei smiling at her, while Tsubasa sweat-dropped at his old friends.  
Then there was Gingka, who stood there silently with his arms crossed and looking down at them all - he was the one who caught Zyro's eyes with a smile.  
With the warmth of kindness and gratitude filling him, Zyro smiled back towards the older blader. Gingka was as kind and great as Madoka, Benkei, and Tsubasa said, for they had known him much longer than he ever had.  
The redhead was the only one who knew about his claustrophobia and that he slept with a nightlight, and somehow Zyro could just trust him with that.  
Maybe the two could end up being good friends. But Gingka knew better than he did, and he knew that if they became friends it would give him a different reason to remember him...

But if they were friends, it would also hurt him even more.

 **YOU.**

 **CAN'T.**

 **SAVE.**

 **HIM.**


	5. Chapter 4 - Parental Reminders

Chapter 4 - Parental Reminders

* * *

The small bluenette sat perched on the chair beside the hospital bed, tears in her eyes as she sat beside her mother who's condition wasn't doing to well. She had hoped she would get better after her treatments, but it simply wasn't so - now she just wanted to spend time with her mother until she...  
Tears fell from her eyes at the thought, and tried to force it out of her mind with everything she had. But being as young as she was, she didn't truly know the meaning of keeping her emotions inside and hiding them.  
So she just let the tears fall, small whimpers and sobs escaping her mouth as she let the tears flow down her cheeks, her stomach hurting as she cried silently by her mother's bedside.

"Don't cry, sweetie.." Came a gentle voice that was all too familiar that caused the little girl to stop crying for a few moments, her eyes looking up into the kind face of her mother.  
"M-mommy.." The girl sputtered out, sniffling softly and wiping her eyes as best as she could as small sobs escaped her tiny body.  
She didn't mean to cry in front of her mother, she hated anyone seeing her cry - but this time she just couldn't hold it in.  
"It's okay, honey.." Her mother said softly, her brown eyes weak yet still as loving as ever, "Its fine to cry.." Blueish-purple eyes looked up into her mother's face, whimpers escaping her as she remembered the terrible fate that soon awaited her.  
Her vision misted over as tears fell from them.  
"Mommy..." She whimpered softly, choked sobs coming from her throat, "I don't want you to go..." A gentle hand reached out and put itself on her soft hair, stroking it gently and moving part of her bangs out of her eyes.  
"I'm sorry, baby.." She murmured, "But I won't leave you, I promise.." More sobs came from the small girl.

"But you're gonna leave!..." She choked out with tears streaming down her face, "And I'll be all alone!.. I don't wanna be alone!..."  
"Come here, sweetie.." Her mother said softly, and without hesitation did the small bluenette leave the chair and climb up onto the bed with her mother, snuggling up to her with tears in her eyes and her arms wrapped around her.  
"I won't leave you, dear, not really.." Her mother explained gently with rubbing circles onto her daughter's back, "I might be gone from where you can see me, but I'll always be right with you.. No matter what.." With puffy eyes did the small bluenette look up at the older one, clinging to her chest as she did when she was even younger.  
"What do you mean?.." She asked through tears, "I can always see you..." More tears ran down her face as she looked into the harsh reality of the world. "Its okay, baby..." A soft kiss was placed on her daughter's forehead, smoothing out her bangs softly as she buried her small face in her chest, staining her clothing with tears.  
"I don't wanna lose you, mommy..." The girl whimpered into her clothing, tears pouring from her eyes like waterfalls, "Please.. I don't wanna be alone!... I don't wanna lose y-you.. Don't go, mommy..."  
Her mother rubbed small circles on her back, holding her close to her as she knew this would be one of, if not the last, times she would be able to hold her daughter again. "Don't cry, Hikaru.."  
The tears only fell faster...

* * *

"Hikaru."

Hikaru jumped back into reality as her name was called, glancing around feverishly before her eyes landed on one of her fellow assistants at the WBBA.  
"Oh, hi Sichiro.." Hikaru greeted awkwardly, brushing part of her light blue fringe out of her eyes. "The Director wants you to contact him on the preparations for the next bey battle in the tournament." Sichiro said, adjusting his tie as he said so.  
"Uh, right." Hikaru agreed, "I'll get right on it." Nodding, Sichiro set off down the hall, Hikaru looking after him before sighing softly to herself.

"Also, Hikaru." Sichiro said from down the hall, drawing the attention of the bluenette. "Chief wants to know if you'll be able to stay by later, for some extra files." With a wry look in her eye did Hikaru shake her head.  
"Sorry, I can't.. I have something I need to take care of." With a small shrug did Sichiro finally leave, leaving Hikaru alone in the hall with herself. Of all the times to have so much on her hands, why did it have to be this time?  
With everything on her shoulders, Hikaru found somewhere to sit down and opened her laptop that was in her arms. With the press of a few buttons did the screen come up with Tsubasa's back turned to her.  
"Hello, Director." Hikaru greeted, getting Tsubasa's attention and causing him to turn around and look at him.  
"Oh, hey Hikaru." Tsubasa greeted back, "You're just who I wanted to see."  
"Yeah, Sichiro told me you wanted the update on the next battle between Kite Unabara and Baihu Xiao." The silverette nodded.  
"Yes, how's everything coming along?" He asked. "Everything is in preparation, Director." Hikaru told the President of the WBBA, "Everything will be ready by mid-afternoon tomorrow."

"Thanks Hikaru." Tsubasa said in gratitude towards the female bluenette, "I'll get back to you if I need anything else.  
" The assistant only nodded, and with the press of a single button did she leave Tsubasa alone and went back to the desktop of her computer.  
Truly, it was hard doing all of this in the WBBA considering what the day was, and what had happened 13 years ago that caused her to be so distant on this day. But, she had other things to worry about than that for now, so she might as well get back to work - she didn't need to visit the grave until later...

* * *

Later - of course - came, and Hikaru had gone home early to change into something other than her suit; she chose her outfit carefully, making into a long-sleeved blue shirt with a red vest over top, followed by a pair of black jeans with a belt to keep them up and a pair of black, high-heeled boots that she didn't really wear that much.  
She had stopped by the flower shop on her way back from work, and picked up some daffodils which had always been her favorite flower.  
Hikaru sighed, looking at herself in the mirror as she adjusted the choker that she always wore around her neck.  
 _"I guess its time.."_ She thought to herself, picking up the flowers as she headed out the door. It wasn't a very long walk to the cemetery, but it still put a bit of strain on her body as she made her way over - it was basically routine for her to do this, if you counted routine as once a year on the same day.  
Even as she walked under the arc of the cemetery and felt a sudden coldness crawl upon her body did she feel like it had been the last 12 days that she had come here with flowers that would soon wilt away and died just like her only family had.

"Ow!" She whispered loudly as she felt a sudden sting at the back of her neck, reflex telling her to slap away whatever had bitten her with the palm of her hand, "Stupid bugs.."  
The bluenette gingerly walked through the grave-site, walking past several headstones before she stood in front of one that was all to familiar for her. Hikaru didn't say a word as the sky clouded over above her, her entire world feeling like it was once more falling apart into nothing like it had been all those years ago when she was small.  
But that didn't stop her before gently kneeling down on her knees and gingerly placing the flowers in front of the tombstone that bore a name all to familiar to her.

 _Rio Hasama  
June 1973 - September 2004  
Beloved mother, daughter, and sister_

Blueish purple eyes softened towards the name, tears brimming the edges of her eyes that she refused to let fall.  
"Hi, mom.." Hikaru said softly, her body shivering as she refused to grant its wish of crying its heart out onto the grave of its mother.  
"Been awhile, huh?.. A year, to be precise.." Gently did Hikaru wipe her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt, a sob coming out of her in a shaky breath as she tried desperately not to breakdown in front of her mother's grave.  
"I uh.. I'm still working at the WBBA.." She said shakily, "And, uh... Gingka's back in town.. I told you about him a few times, and how he saved the world and all... He came back awhile ago, and, uh..."  
A soft whimper came out of Hikaru's mouth, still fighting back the tears that tried desperately to escape her. It would be childish to breakdown in front of her mother's grave like a scared child, after all she _was_ a grown woman now.  
A grown woman that hadn't had the chance to grow up with her mother. "Sorry I don't have much to say, uh..." Hikaru's sentence didn't continue as her shoulders shook, her bottom lip quivering as she slowly lets the tears fall and silently sobbed to no one.  
"I'm sorry... I-I just.." Hikaru put a hand over her eyes to catch her tears, crying once more as if she were a little girl again that went crying to her mother at night when she was scared of the monsters in her closet and during thunderstorms.  
The flowers she had placed on her mother's grave caught a few stray tears that fell before, her sobs wringing out into the empty cemetery and joining the cries of the deceased from beyond the grave.  
Tears were pointless, and she knew that.  
They hadn't done anything the last time her mother held her before she died, and they wouldn't do anything more than they had now that she was dead...

* * *

The day of Kite and Xiao's battle came and went, with murmurs and talk of the tournament day in and day out.  
Zyro had decided to go out with his friends after the tournament with Eight still pouring over Kite with an adorable pride that complimented the Unabara brothers. Gingka, however, had returned to the B-Pit with Madoka and Maru, showing the young pinkette with attention as she told him about various things concerning the data that she always collected and Bey mechanics.  
The redhead had even gone upstairs with her, grabbed a chair and sat beside her as she worked on various Beys while explaining to him the psyichs of Beys and the tricks and keys to fixing them. "I've gathered data on a lot of Beys in my few years," Maru explained, "And I think I'm understanding how the special moves of Beys come to be."  
"Really? How?"  
"Well, its not obvious with all Beys, but on most you'll be able to see details that indicate their special abilities, which will likely come in the name of the special move or the name of the Bey itself. Really, even I don't know where Beys get their strange powers from, or where the beasts that we all see trapped within them, but I do know that some sort of special accessory or detail on the Bey somehow generates for power. Madoka told me that all Beys originated from a star that fell to earth, like, a million years ago-" Gingka hid the small chuckle that he produced, "-and I do believe that may be where this power comes from.. At least, that's what I got so far."  
Maru scratched her head gently, "I really don't know any more of where the power that Bey's generate come from.."

"Well, I say you've got it way better than I have, Maru." Gingka complimented as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, "At least, scientifically... I think that's the word.. Wait, no.. Yes!.. No.."  
Maru giggled at the redhead's talk with himself, finding the Legendary Blader very fun to be with - just like Madoka had told her.  
"I see you 2 are bonding." Madoka commented on the two as she walked up the stairs and stood at the top of them, raising an eyebrow. "Maru here has been teaching me about Bey psychs, and the science of how they work." Gingka explained, "I'm actually kind of surprised how interesting it is."  
"That's because I put it in terms that you can understand." Gingka looked at the pinkette for a moment, before shrugging.  
"Fair enough." He said.

"Maybe I should've tried explaining it to you in terms that you can understand all those years ago, Gingka." Madoka said as she raised an eyebrow at the Pegasus Blader.  
"Meh, I would've still fallen asleep on the couch." Gingka said with a dorky look, scratching his cheek gently. Madoka sighed at the redhead, knowing that he was absolutely hopeless. Gingka once more brought a hand up his mouth, coughing softly into it like he had been for the past few days. "You've still got that cough, huh?" Madoka observed.  
"Yeah.." Gingka admitted as his coughing died down, "I guess its just allergies, since it is almost summer." "I hate allergies.." Maru said thoughtfully, memories of a few former summers coming back, "I always get a ton of them in spring and summer."  
"Yeah, well that's the price some - well, most - of us have to pay.." Madoka said as she sweat-dropped at the little girl.  
"Well, I'm gonna be upstairs for awhile." Gingka said suddenly, standing up from his seat and rolling his shoulders a bit. "Okay, I'll call you when dinner's ready." Madoka said, smiling at her old friend, "But then again, I probably won't even have to, knowing you."  
Gingka simply smiled before heading upstairs into the living quarters of the B-Pit. Madoka - of course - never thought anything of it, and of course didn't see it when Gingka hurried down the hall when he was out of sight to the nearest bathroom.

The redhead swiftly opened the door, switched the light on, locked the door, and dropped to his knees in front of the toilet.  
His entire body shook violently and his teeth chattered, as if he had been locked away in a large freezer for a number of minutes, maybe even an hour - only it wasn't cold, it was intently warm. But what his body shook from couldn't be the cold, or the fact that he wasn't feeling very well (despite it also being that), but something else that only he really knew about.  
And he didn't have time to think about it as he coughed up nothing but bile into the toilet bowl as he had nothing left in him.  
A few coughs violently overtook him, witnessing the smallest specks of red falling onto the tainted toilet water that was in it.  
Shaking, Gingka went and leaned his back against the counter, his breathing coming out in wheezes that stung his throat every time he swallowed. His red bangs fell down the side of his face, his golden-brown eyes tired upon his unusually pale skin.

"..You're enjoying this, aren't you?..." He asked no one, yet he spoke to everything, "You're just waiting till I drop.. That's all..."  
He could feel the invisible eyes upon him, looking at him from every direction with the sickest of joys pleasuring their soul.  
Gingka coughed softly into his hand once more, knowing that the eyes that were upon him from everywhere enjoyed this more than anything, watching his every move and seeing the pain that he was in that he tried to conceal, it was so overjoying.  
With no one except the watchful eyes of everything around him, Gingka shed a single tear from his eyes; might as well let it all out now and that way it would hurt less later.. Right?...

* * *

Once more did night take over Metal Bey City, the streets now bare of all life as everyone had gone indoors to sleep and be ready for whatever tomorrow would bring.  
Everyone in the B-Pit had long since gone to bed, Zyro - of course - having his nightlight switched on as he always did.  
Not a sound moved through the large building, the light of the moon pouring in through several windows and giving light to the darkness in perfect balance. Light was the one thing that Zyro always needed, so that his claustrophobia didn't kick in and virtually suffocate him into madness. And even though he needed light, he was a deep sleeper and therefore would barely notice if the light went out or not.  
And since he was a deep sleeper, he especially didn't hear the door slowly creak open and close behind whoever had opened it, didn't hear the soft footsteps that came to the side of his bed and stopped as though someone was watching him. But he jerked slightly when he felt a sudden weight on the side of his head, a groan escaping his tired self as he unconsciously fought to open his eyes from their sleeping state.  
Gentle hands shook Zyro's shoulder, stirring him in the slightest bit and causing him to roll over.

"Mom..." Zyro groaned with a tired voice, "Its Saturday, come on..."  
A sigh came from whoever tried to wake the sleeping Blader, and shook his shoulder once more. "Zyro.." The person whispered, "Come on, wake up.." Groaning softly, Zyro slowly turned over with his eyes half open, looking to whoever was talking to him. And what he saw when he looked scared him half to death.  
"Oh my god!" He exclaimed, jumping back and falling off the edge of the bed.  
Gingka stood there with wide eyes, taken aback slightly at Zyro's reaction at seeing him; he knew that the younger blader would react, but he didn't think it would be _that_ bad.  
"Uuhh.. Are you okay?..." The older blader asked awkwardly, watching as Zyro shot up from the floor and stared at him. "Don't do that!" Zyro whispered loudly, "What are you doing in my room?.."

"I'm glad you asked.." Gingka whispered loudly back, "Put some clothes on, and meet me out in the hall."  
Blue eyes merely stared after the older blader as he went over to the door, opening it and leaving the room - he then closed the door behind him to give the younger blader some privacy. For several moments did Zyro sit there in the light of the moon from his window, clinging to the two light sources in his room that he depended on for the sake of his own sanity.  
It was several minutes before he finally decided to stand up, and do as the redhead had told him to do, for whatever reason that he implied.  
So, rummaging through a drawer or two, Zyro found his clothes and managed to put them on in the dark, almost falling over a few times since he was still tired and his balance was a bit off - but he managed.  
When he was ready, the ginger-ravenette wandered over to the door, his heart pounding in his ears as he knew he would have to face the darkness again like he had the night before. Taking a deep breath, he turned the door handle and opened it, seeing Gingka standing there against the wall - with a small flashlight clipped onto his jacket.  
"Oh, there you are.." The redhead said with a sigh of what sounded like relief, "I thought you passed out on the floor or something."

With a confused look did Zyro watch as the redhead unclipped the small flashlight from his jacket, and reach over to clip it onto the Zyro's. It went on with ease, and stayed there firmly once Gingka took his hands off of it.  
"You can borrow that, since I know you usually need light even in closed spaces." Blue eyes looked into golden-brown ones, which also seemed tired just like how Zyro was, and smiled thoughtfully. "Come on.." Gingka whispered, leading Zyro down the hall which was lit by the flashlight he had given him. Granted with the light, it didn't entire stop Zyro's claustrophobia from chasing after him, nipping at the edges of his jacket and trying to trip him down the stairs that the 2 walked down.  
Even with light, the Fire Blader greatly focused on his breathing to keep himself calm, counting in his head as he followed Gingka down the stairs to the front entrance of the B-Pit.

Four.

Just breathe, you're almost outside.

Five.

Gingka's with you, it'll be fine.

Six.

Don't fail, don't fall to your knees, its okay.

Seven.

He watched as Gingka took the keys to the B-Pit, unlocking the front door.

Eight.

It was okay.

Nine.

You'll be okay.

Ten.

Finally, Gingka opened the door, and Zyro ducked under his arm to hurry outside from the walls closing in around him, taking in the fresh night air like he had just been buried alive. Gingka glanced at the younger blader before locking the doors to the B-Pit again, putting the keys for it away in his pants pocket and walking up beside Zyro, placing a gloved on his shoulder.  
"You okay, Zyro?.." He asked out of concern, considering the way that Zyro seemed to be worshiping being outside and not in the halls of the B-Pit which were - in the younger's perspective - quite closed in.  
"Y-yeah.." Zyro sputtered out, managing to breath normally again once he had stopped breathing as deeply as he had been, "What are we doing out here, Gingka?"  
Gingka smiled, turning away from the younger blader and walking in another direction. "Just follow me.." He said, "There's something I wanna show you." With confusion and curiosity clouding him, Zyro had no choice but to follow the older blader to wherever they were going.  
He yawned several times on the way, his limbs stiff from being woken up so suddenly - but considering that Gingka had woken him up in the middle of the night than it surely had to be for a reason, didn't it?  
For what seemed like hours did the 2 walk, Gingka being able to stay ahead of Zyro and sometimes backtracking to make sure he didn't fall asleep while walking and face plant on the ground.  
Zyro yawned once more, rubbing his eyes to make sure that they didn't close on him and take him off into a world that was entirely his own while his psychical body remained where it was and fell to the ground stupidly.

"Here we are.." He heard Gingka say, and looked at the redhead who - to his surprised - leaped over the edge of a railing and skidded to a halt on the grass on the other side, now in a sitting position of which was a mystery of how he had pulled it off from what he did. In curiosity did Zyro look over the railing to see that they were at the waterfront, the still water reflecting the moon and stars in the sky.  
With slight difficulty did Zyro put one leg over the railing, climbing over it while desperately trying not to fall and hit his head; eventually, he was able to make it over and sat down beside the redhead, looking over at him in confusion.  
"What are we doing here, Gingka?" Zyro asked, earning a glance from the redhead. "Turn that off-" He gestured to the flashlight, "-and then look up."  
Zyro did as he said, pressing the small button on the side of the flashlight that made it switch off before his blue eyes made their way up to the sky as Gingka's were. "Woah..." Zyro whispered in astonishment at the sight before him.  
Up in the night sky above were millions upon millions of stars, all gathered together in the night to make a beautiful aurora in the center of the cosmos.  
The moon shone off in the distance of them, though they surrounded it in a frame of twinkling lights, illuminating the night unlike anything Zyro had ever seen.

"Pretty impressive isn't it?.." Gingka murmured thoughtfully, a peaceful look on his face as he gazed upon the serene sight with his golden-brown eyes.  
"Y-yeah.." Zyro said in astonishment, transfixed upon the sight above him, "I've seen stars before, but never this many.."  
Gingka glanced over at the ginger-ravenette, a feeling of warmth overcoming him when he saw the astonishment upon those innocent features. "Have you ever star-gazed before?" He asked in a kind tone.  
"Well, when I was little I used to." Zyro reflected thoughtfully, "My dad owned a telescope, and on clear nights we would go into the back yard and see what kind of things we could see." Golden-brown eyes softened with the sadness of tears behind them, looking out across the water in an attempt to hide them.  
"With your dad, huh?.." Gingka said to no one and yet to everything around them, trying not to look or feel down because of Zyro.  
"Yeah, and my mom would make us hot chocolate and we'd sit outside and see if we could catch any shooting stars flying by."  
Zyro went on, a wide smile on his face as he looked up at the sky with the most innocent of lights in his eyes as he spoke about his childhood, "What about you Gingka?"

The question caught the redhead off guard, feeling the younger blader's eyes upon him and waiting eagerly for an answer.  
"Y-yeah, my dad always used to stargaze with me as a kid..." Gingka said softly, a sense of nostalgia overcoming him as memories came back like flood waters breaking through a dam, "He's the one who taught me the names and showed me the constellations in the sky.. Of course, he knew way more than I did, but..."  
His voice trailed off into nothing, never finishing his sentence as Zyro looked at him with utmost interest.  
"Really?" He asked eagerly, "Where is he now?" There was no immediate answer from the redhead. Gingka sat there for a moment before looking over at the younger blader, who now had a concerned look on his face towards the superior.  
"He, uh..." Gingka began nervously, swallowing one before finally making direct eye contact with Zyro.

"He... He died 2 years ago.."

The curiosity in Zyro's eyes faded, and was replaced a guilt that sent an arrow through Gingka's heart in a heartbeat.  
"Oh..." Was all the ginger-ravenette managed to say before looking down and away from the Legendary Blader, hiding his guilt as best as he could, "I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't.."  
With a gentle smile did Gingka shake his head, a soft look in his eyes that Zyro had never fully seen before.  
"No.." Gingka spoke, "It wasn't your fault.. He was dying from an illness that had killed several of my old friends in the village I came from.. He was going to die away.."  
"Y-yeah, but..." Zyro's voice trailed off for a moment before continuing with guilt lacing his tone, "I-I didn't mean to bring that back up for you... I'm sorry, Gingka.."

"Zyro..." The redhead beside him spoke softly, placing a hand on one of his delicate shoulders, "Its _okay_.. Everyone leaves some time or another, and the best we can do before that time is do everything in our power to help them... And when they leave, you keep them in your memory so that they'll always be with you... But most of all-" Gingka poked a finger on the left side of Zyro's chest, making the younger blader chuckle in the slightest bit - he was ticklish, "-You keep them in your heart."  
Zyro's blue eyes once more made their way up to the redhead beside him, the guilt in them clearing once he saw that kind smile that he had come to know.  
"R-really?.." He stuttered. Gingka only nodded to him, a gentle smile placed on unusually pale features.  
"Really.." The redhead responded, "So remember that when someone you know dies.." Zyro's soul was struck by those words for an unknown reason, his entire body shaking from the core of his soul to the surface of his skin, the hair on the back of his neck standing up on end as an aura of cold surrounded him to the redhead's unknowing self.  
Zyro looked over to said redhead with a concerned look on his face, worried blue eyes looking at him much to the obliviousness of the other.

Though even though questions burned inside of him like an inferno that threatened to break loose and destroy everything in its path no matter the cost, Zyro said nothing - he feared that he may upset the redhead more than he already - secretly - was.  
So the two star-gazed for as long as they wished, discussing the different stars and constellations and their meanings; while still tired, Zyro found it quite enjoyable to bond with the Legendary Blader over Astrology, and it was interesting to learn new things about stars that he never knew before. Gingka was the same way, though he didn't entirely admit to himself. Even as he spoke almost endlessly about the cosmos above, the feeling of dread that overcame him didn't ease, no matter where he was it would never ease his aching soul.  
"You see, the stars of Ursa Major - or more commonly known as the Big Dipper - all have names with different meanings." The redhead explained, "In correct order there's Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Benetnasch. It's actually been proven that Mizar forms a double star, with its optical companion named Alcor. Really, the two are said to both be black holes, but I never did study that enough to- Zyro?"  
Noticing the younger blader's silence, Gingka looked over and saw Zyro fast asleep on the grass and snoring softly.  
A peaceful look was on the Fire Blader's face, his breathing soft and gentle and curled up into a ball beside his idol.  
Gingka didn't really blame him, since he had woken him up in the middle of the night to show him the stars on the clearest night he had seen in a long time - he actually would've expected him to have fallen asleep at least 20 minutes before, if not the moment he had sat down on the grass. But with a gentle smile and a sigh, Gingka got onto his knees and picked up the younger blader into his arms; holding him bridal style, the two left the waterfront.

Gingka felt Zyro instinctively snuggle into his chest for warmth, breathing softly against him as he carried him back to the B-Pit, which he managed to unlock and lock again with ease.

Being extra careful not to wake him, Gingka climbed the several stairs up into the living quarters of the B-Pit, taking Zyro into the guest bedroom in which he was currently staying.  
With a gentleness that mimicked a mother and her child, Gingka gently set Zyro down on the bed, making sure he didn't drop him and wake him from his peaceful state of slumber; in the meanwhile, he unclipped the flashlight from Zyro's jacket and placed it on the bedside table, looking over and making sure that his nightlight was also on - it was.  
The redhead stood up, looking down at the teen who was in a sleep perhaps too deep enough to hear anything, looking at the innocent features that had been blessed upon Zyro's face.

Innocence.

He hated himself for soon tainting it.

In a silence that consumed an entirety of the city, Gingka left Zyro's room and closed the door behind him, wandering back to his own as he cleared his throat once again.

The moment Gingka closed the door of his own room behind himself, he fell hard to his knees as his head erupted in pain, putting a hand to it as he instinctively bit down on the fabric of his scarf to prevent himself from screaming and waking up everyone in the B-Pit.  
He let out a muffled cry as the pain in his head continued, tears welling in his eyes as he writhed violently and bit down on the fabric of his scarf that was already ripped enough from his countless journeys.  
Another muffled cry of pain came from the redhead as he fell to the ground on his side with both hands on either side of his head; tears ran down his face as he nearly tore through the several layers of his scarf with his teeth.

Then all together it just quit, leaving Gingka quivering there with sweat and tears streaming down his face. His irises quivered while tears clouded his vision and his bite on his scarf loosened.

"Please..." He begged, his voice quivering as his body was at that exact moment, "Stop it... Please.."  
He could feel eyes upon him, eyes that stood everywhere and yet nowhere all the same. They strained upon him and watched in pure, sick joy as he suffered on the floor.

"Please... Just please..."

Just as it had come and gone, the same entirely unbearable pain returned, his teeth once more clenching the fabric of his scarf that could've bitten through iron as a muffled scream was ripped from his throat; he prayed to the gods above that nobody had heard.  
His hands gripped his skull in a death grip that could've crushed it for all he cared, as long as it would stop the pain that flowed to his head eternally and exploded in waves in pain that he couldn't handle.  
Tears streamed down his face in rivers as he writhed on the floor, muffled cries coming out of him in a pained rhythm that he hoped no one could hear.  
There was only one thought that went through his head that wasn't blocked out by the pain that consumed his entire being.

 _"STOP THIS, PLEASE!"_

 **YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME**

Out of all the pain he had ever experienced in his entire life, this pain was the one that had taken his entire mind into chaos, the pain that forced screams out of him and into the scarf that he used to muffle himself.  
This pain would be remembered. Even as it disappeared and he lay there with his hair messed up and his face stained with tears that had poured from his eyes in endless streams.  
Misted eyes stared up at the ceiling with tears trickling from them as he lay on his back with his scarf spread out under him and soaked with his own saliva near his neck.  
It wasn't the end.

"Stop... Please.."

 **YOU BELONG TO ME**


	6. Chapter 5 - Questions Arising

Chapter 5 - Questions Arising

* * *

"You're saying something's wrong with him?" Shinobu repeated over in his mouth to Zyro as they all walked down the streets of Metal Bey City.  
"Well, I'm not saying for sure." Zyro said as he scratched his head lightly, looking at his dirty blond friend, "But.. I just think he's been acting really weird lately." "I don't get it though.." Ren said softly as she looked at her ginger and black haired friend, "He seemed fine the last time we saw him, even with that cough he had."

"Yeah.." Zyro said as he scratched his cheek, "He keeps saying that he's just sick, and he has been coughing a bit, so..."  
"Did you ever get the chance to ask him about what he told you a few days ago?" Eight questioned, standing on his tip-toes and eagerly awaiting the answer.  
"Yeah, I did a couple nights ago," Zyro answered, "But all he said was that I was supposed to try and figure out what he meant, so he didn't give me a direct answer.. He also seemed kind of out of it last night.."  
Ren raised an eyebrow, a mischievous look in her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Why, what did you two do last night?" She asked in a tone that confused Zyro all too much. But before the blader could ask, Ren got in his face with the same expression. "Or is it _private_?"

Zyro obviously didn't notice Kite and Shinobu's faces turning red as he looked at his blond friend with a confused look.  
"Well, I guess two people star gazing is kind of between them," Zyro reflected, trying to think over what Ren was saying, "But I don't entirely see what's so private about it." Ren stared at her friend for a moment before just sighing.  
"Well, its good to know you two have bonded over something." She said, smiling at Zyro. "Yeah, I guess so." The ginger-ravenette agreed, "But I don't know him as well as Madoka, Director, and Manager do."  
Kite smiled slightly at the Fire Blader, pushing his glasses up on his long nose.  
"Well, that makes about all of us." He said. "Well, if he's acting weird then maybe you should tell Madoka or something."  
Zyro looked down at the ground slightly, his blue eyes half-lidded. "Yeah, I guess," He agreed, "I keep wanting to tell Madoka, or the Director or someone, but I honestly don't know if I should."

"Maybe you should." Eight said as he looked up at his teammate, "I mean, its as they say: Better sorry than safe-" "Safe than sorry, Eight." Kite corrected his younger brother, "-Yeah, that!" "Well..." Zyro said softly, looking up at his friends, "I guess so. I'll try and ask Gingka later, but who wants to do some Beybattling?"  
As all bladers tended to do, the group of friends immediately agreed, running off to the Bey Park in eager anticipation. Though Zyro still had his mind on other things - he just couldn't help but worry for Gingka...

* * *

Madoka hadn't seen Gingka that morning when she found that he had left before any of them had woken up that morning; she had almost forgotten that Gingka was such a free spirit that he would often wander out into the city or somewhere else in the middle of the night, he was simply a free spirit like that.  
But even so, she did have to wonder exactly where he had gone at such an early hour of the day; though she had more than that to focus on as she carried up some supplies boxes from below and up to the main entrance.  
 _"Gee, the least that Maru could do is help me out a bit.."_ Madoka thought to herself as she set the boxes down on the counter.  
"Hey, Maru!" Madoka called up the stairs, "Come and help me bring some boxes up!" The brunette did not receive an answer from the pinkette at the top of the stairs, concerning her slightly. "Maru?" She called again, only being responded to by silence.

"Maru?" She repeated, slowly heading up the stairs to check on the small girl.

"-Condition isn't getting better.." A faint voice from upstairs spoke, drawing Madoka's attention away from her concern for Maru (though it was still there), "-showing signs-"

"Maru?" Madoka asked herself quietly as she climbed the stairs. The moment she reached the top, she saw the pinkette click to her data-screen on her laptop, typing away on it as she didn't notice Madoka was standing there.  
"Maru, were you talking to someone?" Madoka asked out of curiosity, looking at the small mechanic in confusion.  
"No, why?" Maru said innocently, looking up from her screen to her teacher. "I thought I heard you talking to someone up here," Madoka explained, "You didn't hear me call you to come help me." Maru scratched the side of her head, an apologetic smile on her face.  
"Sorry, chief." She apologized, "I got really caught up in my work, and sometimes I talk to myself when that happens." Madoka looked at the girl for a moment before she just smiled. "Well, that's happened to me several times back then." The brunette reflected, "Alright, I'll let you off the hook. Just make sure to listen next time, okay?"

"You got it, chief!" Maru exclaimed with a smile and saluted, earning a small chuckle from Madoka before she headed back downstairs to continue bringing up a few more boxes.  
Maru waited several moments before she was sure Madoka wouldn't be able to listen before she minimized her data-screen to a different screen with static dancing across it, the distorted silhouette of a person on the other end that Maru didn't quite recognize.  
"She's gone.." She told the dark figure on the other side of the screen, "What were you saying before she came up?" "My words were that we still have much observing to do, Maru." The person said with the static distorting some of his words and his voice, "We must watch him carefully, and I am depending on you to keep a close eye on him."  
"I will." Maru said.

"Good.." The person on the other said, "Its only a matter of time."...

* * *

Gingka - of course - had fled the B-Pit long before anyone had woken up that day to avoid any suspicion from his friends.  
Even now he stood atop a building in Metal Bey city to feel the air upon his unusually warm yet cold body.  
The aftermaths of a headache still haunted his brain, a hand on it with his head tilted in the slightest bit to make it go away.  
It didn't help much of course, but it did dim it down enough for him to be able to withstand it. A pained look caressed his face, his eyebrows knitted together with his eyes closed as he forcibly bore the pain that had been cursed upon him.

Just breathe, stay calm, don't move.

Just breathe, stay calm, don't move.

Just breathe, stay calm, don't move.

That was really all it took to keep his headaches at bay, it had been an old trick he had learned from his father long before Ryuga had ever brought chaos and disruption upon Koma Village. Though now, everyone he had known in Koma Village save for Hyoma and Hokuto were long gone, possibly dead for all he knew.

Dead..

That was a word he never did particularly like. Especially when it ever involved someone close to him. When Hyoma had called him back to the village and told him his Ryo was dying, his heart had seemed to stop entirely.  
Gingka had seen the disease several times in his youth, having had old friends and relatives that had died from it - even his own mother after she had given birth to him.  
Gingka had stayed by his father's side for 3 days, never sleeping nor leaving his bedside as he wished to savoir his last moments with his father if death were to come in the next moment.  
He had been holding his father's hand when he had ceased to breathe on this earth.  
It was a cruel fate, many of what the world had to offer to accursed people who misjudged it and treated it as something lower than themselves, and Gingka had learned at a young age that even with hope and light still existing before them, the world was - and always would be - a cruel and heartless place.  
But even so, there was still light in it that many did try to eternally put out - he had been one of the few who had done something to make sure it stayed, as Nemesis had tried to destroy the entire world.  
Though that was years ago, and Gingka doubted that he would do anything like that again - he was going to be the hero that was left with an untimely and unexpected fate.  
Most others before him may too have had the path that stood before him, while others would remain the lucky ones.  
With that, it made him think of the young bladers who idolized him, the one specifically that had stopped the DNA from completely taking over the Beyblade World and doing who-knows-what to all that they had fought for.  
That thought alone almost made his heart stop mid-beat, which could potentially cause a few blood vessels to explode from the sudden stop. Out of all things, he desperately wished that Zyro would never follow in his footsteps...

* * *

"How pathetic.." Said the male voice of himself as he paced slowly back and forth with his hands behind his back and his partially showed eyes wandering across the many screens before him.  
"So many concerns, so many hopes and dreams and desires.." His eyes wandered upon one, a fire lighting in his shaded eyes, "So many _useless_ emotions of what all make you so human.. Would you not agree?.."  
His gaze fixated over his shoulder towards the woman that stood in shadows far behind him, having already known of her presence.

"Indeed." She said blankly as she looked towards him with eyes that were entirely filled to loyalty only to him, "What will you do when they begin to suspect something? Will that not corrupt our plan?"  
A small and eerie giggle echoed in the large room they were in.  
"Oh, but I _want_ them to notice.." He said in a sinister voice that was followed by a small and playful chuckle, "I _want_ them to worry about him, and I especially want that worthless little child to see that there is _nothing_ he can do.. To stop me."  
With small, echoing footsteps did he walk towards the woman that stood in the shadows yet not beyond his sight, his trench coat dancing around in the air as he walked.  
"After all, I do live to see their pain... But even so, our plans will not go foiled."

"I mean no offense to you.." The woman said blankly as if controlled, "But what _does_ make you so confident that you will not fail?.."  
No words came for several moments, eyes that could barely be seen looking at her with a thoughtfulness that would have made her shiver and fall to her knees if she had ever been in her right mind.  
"Because, my pet.." He purred with his face near hers mockingly that she showed no reaction to. A small yet eerie giggle from him made its way from his throat playfully, turning away from his 'pet' and looking back towards the screens with a vengeful look in his eyes that could shake anyone's spirit.  
"I have waited years for this opportunity to finally come.." He said in a chilling voice that came out like ice, "I will _not_ allow it to slip away from me so easily.. I have waited too long for this..."  
Eyes of brown with the tints of gold made their way up to the screens, a malicious look in them as he lay his eyes upon the pain of someone he enjoyed to watch suffer, ".. After years of waiting I will finally complete what my father failed.."  
Golden-brown eyes flashed darkly as he gazed upon the screens in a blood lust that he fought to contain. Though it was a blood lust that he would - soon - no longer have to hold on to by a leash...

* * *

The bell at the door rang as Zyro entered the B-Pit, drawing Madoka's attention away from the shelf from behind the counter in order to see who it was.  
"Oh, welcome back Zyro." She greeted kindly, "Just one moment." Zyro did as he was told and waited for a moment as Madoka fixed something up on the shelf before coming over to the young blader. "What can I do for you, Zyro?"  
"Well..." Zyro started off a bit nervously (which Madoka knew wasn't particularly apart of his nature), "There was actually something I wanted to ask you." A look of surprise crossed Madoka's face for a moment before she smiled at the ginger-ravenette.  
"Sure." She said kindly, "I'm all ears." Zyro didn't speak immediately at first, as if searching for the words inside as quickly as he could.  
"Well, I wanted to ask.." Zyro began again, a hint of nervousness in his voice. Madoka simply waited. "Well.. I wanted to ask if you..."

No.

He couldn't ask.

He had to, he wanted to so badly that he would shout it out to the world just to get it out there and just let everybody know.

He couldn't.

"I was wondering... If you.. Knew who was going to be battling next in the tournament." Zyro mentally beat himself on the inside for his cowardice in trying to tell the Bey Mechanic.  
Madoka had known Gingka long before he had, and she was close to him as all of them could blatantly see - surely she would be able to notice something wrong with Gingka before he did; it was also because he didn't want to upset her or anything by making her worry to much for him.

"I'm not exactly supposed to tell anyone, Zyro.." Madoka said thoughtfully, but raised an eyebrow, "But I think I can spare that rule just this once."  
Zyro faked a small smile at the brunette.  
"The next battle is between Genjuro and Ren. Though it'll be a little while longer until their's since Baihu and Kite did kind of mess up the Cyclone Bey Stadium a bit."  
"Okay, thanks Madoka." Zyro said with false thankfulness, "It'd be okay if I tell Ren, wouldn't it." Madoka simply smiled at the young blader.  
"Well, yeah." She said, "She's going to find out anyway, so you might as well tell her and make sure she's prepared."  
Another fake smile did Zyro give her.  
"Okay, thanks Madoka." All the brunette did was smile at the young blader, who turned around and headed for the door.

"Oh yeah, make sure you're back by 4:30, okay?" Madoka said as she suddenly remembered something, "We're having mac and cheese tonight."

"Yes!" Zyro exclaimed when he had turned back to the brunette - this happiness was genuine, "I _love_ mac and cheese!"  
"Good." Madoka said with a smile, watching as Zyro left the B-Pit with a smile on his face. It was fake, and she knew it.

Madoka didn't know a lot of things, but she could tell when someone was faking happiness, especially with someone as young as Zyro was, granted he was 15. She did want to ask Zyro what it is that he wanted to tell her at first, but she didn't want to have to pressure him into it. She'd let him tell her in his own time.  
Without any further concern towards the matter, Madoka got back to work in fixing up the shelf behind the counter.  
What she hadn't know, though, was that Maru had been listening to their conversation.  
Lavender eyes narrowed seriously when the conversation ended and she heard Madoka getting back to work, deleting the new audio she had acquired on her laptop as it was rendered useless to her line of duty.

 _"Drat."_ She thought in her mind, _"Now what?.."_ Being as quite as a ghost - with the gracefulness of one too - Maru crept back up the stairs to her work area, displeased with her failure.  
She would have to try again...

* * *

Zyro had - of course - told Ren of what was to be expected in the tournament, which she was grateful about along with a mysteriously flustered attitude that had to make Shinobu keep in his agonizing laughter from how oblivious Zyro was to it - but Zyro noticed.  
The Fire Blader had been questioned by his friends if he had asked Madoka what he had wanted to ask her, though he - much to their disappointment - that he chickened out at the last second; Ren had, personally, looked like she wanted to smack him upside the head, though thankfully she didn't (but it didn't mean she wouldn't).  
Either way, the afternoon had come and gone, as well as the dinner of mac and cheese that Madoka had said they were having - Maru seemed reluctant to leave whatever she was doing at her laptop but for the sake of Madoka's cooking she did. Gingka still never showed his face around the B-Pit that day, nor did anyone really see him at all.  
Madoka - knowing that Gingka would take off at random times through the city - didn't ask any questions about Gingka not showing up, but she did mention that she was indeed concerned why he hadn't been around all day.

Zyro still never said a word about what he had wanted to ask Madoka, and the brunette let it be. Even as the late afternoon hit, the sun started to set, Gingka still hadn't shown his face.  
It wasn't long before night came as well and everyone in the B-Pit had settled down in their ritual of sleep.  
Zyro's snores could be heard from down the hall to Maru's room, though that was not what kept the pinkette girl up that night as she stared at her ceiling aimlessly with thoughts running through her mind in a blurred haze.  
With one hand did she caress the pink silk of her pajamas, feeling over the fabric which she always enjoyed doing from the texture.  
Try as she might, Maru was unable to get to sleep, even with how tired her eyelids were and how badly her body screamed for it.

Going behind Madoka's back... That was not something she would eagerly do out of will, but it was vital to what she _had_ to do.  
This was for the sake of everyone.  
At least, that was what she kept trying to convince herself. It was for the best, that was what she tried to convince herself as she sat up in bed and let her pink hair - now free of its ponytail - fall onto her shoulders freely where it curled at the ends.  
Throwing the covers off, Maru made her way over to her desk with a different look in her eyes than she usually had.  
Sitting down in her 'spinny chair', Maru opened her laptop which almost immediately lit up to work for her. This was all for the best, and she knew it.

"Why are you wishing to see me at such a time?.." A voice asked from the other side of the screen, the focus of it still distorting the picture and the voice to something that Maru could barely understand.  
"I must ask you something.." Maru said quietly so that Madoka wouldn't hear her from down the hall. "This is for the best, isn't it?"  
"Of course it is.." The distorted voice said in a tone that was almost unsettling, "Just be sure to gather as much information about his _condition_ as you can.. And remember, let no one else bribe you on what you know."

"I won't." Maru said in a determined tone. "Good.." The man on the other end spoke in a distorted whisper, "I won't deny that they may find out about our plans, or his state, but we should have enough time to watch him and make due with our plans.. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"Alright.." With no further words did the screen close out, leaving Maru in complete silence with just the light of her laptop and the moon. In silence did the pinkette close the lid of her laptop and turn her lavender gaze towards the moon that shone its light through her window, the huge space rock appearing much larger than it usually should have in the night.  
Like a glowing eye in the dark that could easily be pinpointed from its light just as a black sheep in a field of white - only for the moon and the night, it was the exact opposite. A fate awaited them in the near future, and that fate lay within their own hands - they had their own destinies to make, and only they could shape them; only that depended if they knew how to.  
Maru was doing just that, but with the help of someone else who she trusted she was doing the right thing with.  
For what they were trying to do could - and would - shape the outcome of the entire fate that the world had before it...

* * *

Tsubasa's limbs were stiff as he still sat at his desk, filling out papers and such into the night when he should have already been home, sleeping the night away for tomorrow. But - because of a fallback in the tournament - he was still in his office late into the night and unwillingly having several of his assistants work late with him.  
It wasn't like he wanted to, though he wasn't given a choice as it was his job to be the president of the WBBA; he was responsible for making sure the tournament continued, and that Japan's Representatives were confirmed - and that wasn't the easiest thing to do.  
With his mind clouded by his work and his tired soul, he - of course - didn't hear the door slid open to allow someone in, or the delicate sound of high-heeled shoes stepping into the room to see the Director the WBBA, and for several moments no one said a thing. Tsubasa's pen scribbled frantically on the paper, stoping every now and then in order to get his thoughts together before his pen pressed against the paper again.

"Director?" A voice asked with snapped Tsubasa out of his half-asleep trance of endless working, his tired golden-brown eyes looking up to see who had entered the room a few minutes ago. Standing there was Hikaru, her laptop in her arms as she looked at the silvernette calmly with her blueish-purple eyes.  
Even now she waited patiently as Tsubasa sat back in his chair and yawned silently, rubbing between his eyes to try and keep himself awake.  
"Hello, Hikaru..." He said in an exhausted tone, groaning softly as he folded his arms on his desk and breathed softly before looking up towards the bluenette, showing he was doing his best to listen.  
"You're around later than usual, Director.." Hikaru spoke softly, "I take it that the events of the tournament had a fallback, didn't it?"

Tsubasa tried not to take his time in answering, rubbing just under his eye with his finger. "Yeah.." He answered, "I've been trying to get everything done, and I've nodded off at least three times now.." Hikaru's expression looked concerned, but still with a calmness that Tsubasa would've thought more of if he had been more awake.  
"Well, I could always do it for you, Director." Hikaru offered, "You should go home and sleep, since you have a much more occupied day tomorrow because of the organization of the tournament." Tsubasa tiredly shook his head, a yawn overtaking him once more.

"N-no, Hikaru.." He insisted, "I couldn't ask you to do that, Hikaru... You're the one who should be heading home and getting some sleep.."

"Tsubasa.." His name from her lips caught the silvernette's attention, as he hadn't heard her call him by his real name for quite a long time - at least, he hadn't been around if she had ever called him by his name.  
"I know what I'm doing.." Hikaru insisted calmly, "I've been working at the WBBA for at least 8 years, I don't think you have anything to worry about.."  
A kind smile graced her face, a smile that Tsubasa couldn't help but put his trust into as he yawned again.  
"Well.. Aren't you tired?.."

"I had 5 cups of Espresso earlier today." Hikaru said with a calm and reassuring look, "I'm gonna be up for awhile, trust me."  
For several more moments no one said a thing, before Tsubasa stood up warily and yawned once more. "Okay.." He agreed hesitantly, "I really appreciate it, Hikaru.. Don't work yourself to hard, though."  
"Don't worry, Director." Hikaru said with a small smile, "You can count on me." Hikaru simply stood there and watched as the Director of the WBBA stood up on aching limbs and slowly made his way towards the door.  
But before he left, the assistant turned to him one last time.  
"Director, if you don't mind me asking.." She began, "How has Gingka been lately? I haven't been able to see him that much since he came back."  
Tsubasa halted for a moment, looking back Hikaru with tired eyes as he went to answer. "He's been doing fine, save for being sick for awhile.." Tsubasa said in an exhausted tone.

"He's sick?" Hikaru asked in slight interest.  
"Yeah, he's been coughing quite a bit, but it doesn't seem like anything to worry about - though he did miss part of Kite and Baihu's battle the other day." The bluenette smiled softly. "Well, I guess even the champion is sick every now and then." Tsubasa chuckled in the slightest bit.  
"Yeah, I guess your right.." He agreed with a small groan from his tired self, "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow.." Hikaru simply smiled, watching as the director or the WBBA walked away to the doors, which gratefully opened for him.  
"Make sure not to fall asleep in your car!" Hikaru called after him.  
"Don't worry, I won't.." Tsubasa said before the doors closed, leaving Hikaru alone.  
With a calm expression, Hikaru made her way over to Tsubasa's desk and sat down where he had previously been, pulling herself up to his desk with her laptop on her lap.

With her dark fingertips did she gently spread out a few of the papers Tsubasa had been working on, reading them over and gathering details for the tournament with her blueish-purple eyes darting this way and that.  
"Genjuro Kamekaki and Ren Kurenai.." Hikaru whispered to herself, "The tournament.. Fall back..." Her turns then fluttered over to a sheet of paper under the ones that she was looking at, her delicate fingertips pulling it out from under the rest and quickly reading it over.

"Zyro Kurogane.. Known to idolize Gingka Hagane.. Hmm..."

Neatly moving the papers out of the way, Hikaru placed her laptop in front of her and opened the lid, the screen starting up on her command like it always had.  
Within a few moments she was brought to what seemed to be a Word Document page, only with its differences.  
With the mouse pad, she moved the cursor to one button and clicked on it, though nothing visibly changed. Holding the paper in front of her once more, Hikaru set it down beside her and quickly typed several words onto the processor.

She didn't even bother to watch the screen as she typed as she knew what she was doing very well; and once she was done, she looked up to see what she had written in plain text with an indent at the front of it - for writing purposes of course since it was her job to get it write.  
Her blueish-purple eyes narrowed, and the space automatically went to below what she had written with words forming graciously as if spoken - Hikaru didn't have her hands on the Keyboard.  
Even as she awaited the answer that was coming to her, all that was there was one word, and one word was all that she needed.

 _Good_


	7. Chapter 6 - My Forbidden Dreams

Chapter 6 - My Forbidden Dreams

* * *

Once more, Gingka stood at the edge.

The tips of his shoes hung over the edge of the 8 story building, looking down to the streets below with his scarf in the breeze that would've sent him over the edge if he had let it.  
The pain in his head was still fading, watching the cars below in a trance that captivated him in the lights of the city below.  
For several minutes did he let the breeze flow in his hair, blow his scarf around his neck which he still kept covered.  
Gingka could stand there forever he had wanted to, contemplating fate and time before his eyes as the breeze blew his bangs back from his eyes.  
The redhead let out a shaky breath as he felt shivers run through his body - though he was confused if it was from fear or excitement from standing at the edge, almost ready to fall yet at the same time tearing the idea away from his mind.

He knew that if anybody looked up at this moment he'd look like a citizen who was getting ready to jump, so to erase any suspicions did he leave the edge and walk to the center of the building he was standing on.  
The sounds of the cars driving by sounded like a melody to him, though he had heard more beautiful from the birds around Koma Village when he had been growing up, though he listened to the sound anyway even as he sat down on one of the vents atop the building, his back hunched over as he balanced his elbow on his knee and put his forehead into his palm.  
The ache from the headache he had had was still there, though not enough that it would be a major problem to him - though he could still feel it nonetheless; he felt guilty for disappearing on Madoka, Zyro and the others that day, having not dared make any contact with him as he knew they would be wondering where he was.  
If anything, they had already tried looking for him, or maybe they hadn't in hopes that he would be back that night.  
He shouldn't have left the B-Pit so suddenly, worrying Madoka and Zyro like that - but that was the risk that he had to take.

Either way, Zyro was worried enough already, and he knew he was trying to put the pieces of what the redhead had told him together... Another fit of coughs took over his body, the Pegasus Blader putting a hand up to his mouth as he shook from the force of the coughs that he let out. He closed his eyes tightly as he coughed hard, almost choking in the process of letting it out.  
He took one glance at his hand before looking away, a metallic taste left in his mouth once his coughing died down.  
His chest hurt from the force of the fit he had had, making him whimper as it stung his inner being with an intensity that almost made him break down onto his knees.  
He refused to fall to his knees, to give into the pain that fought to consume his entirety - but even with the screaming desire of wanting to, he failed at giving his mind and soul what it wanted.  
With aching limbs that were caused by his pain, Gingka slowly moved himself off the vent and down onto the ground where he leaned against it, his scarf acting as a sort of pillow for his back so that he wouldn't be sore as he sat there.  
Coughing softly in the process, the redhead cleared his throat and whimpered again as it generated more pain from his chest that rose and felt again in silent agony.

Shakily did he breathe in, savoring the fresh hair that filled his lungs as if it were his final breath.

With tears in his eyes, Gingka looked up to the night sky which stood as peaceful as it always had been, even on the day that he had 'lost' his father the first time, and then truly lost him the second time.  
The moon reflected on his pale face, the light from it giving him an inner sense of security that he hadn't felt in a long, long time.  
More whimpers escaped him, his lower lip quivering while his eyes watered and blurred his vision with either pain or sadness - he couldn't tell which.  
It was almost a comforting feeling, like that of his father who would hold him when he was little as he fell asleep and when he felt sad, when he was scared of thunderstorms or had hurt himself while playing out with Hyoma.  
But those times were long behind him, and he had been left alone as an orphan before he had turned 19.

But he never had cried about that..

With the pain in his chest lingering in him, with the feeling of safety being washed from his body like being sprayed with a hose, with the air in his lungs constricting over and over again in a way that made it seem like his body wanted to internally choke him, he wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his face into the small hidey-hole - it was only then did he let the tears fall...

* * *

Darkness.

Nothing but darkness.

He couldn't even see himself, there was nothing but darkness that surrounded him and almost cut off his breathing with the feeling of numbness taking over his body almost entirely - all that really remained was his sense of sight.

 _"What is this?.."_ He thought to himself, his breath coming out shakily with nothing from the cold warmth that surrounded him.

 **I've waited..**

Words that formed in his head in a different voice than his own, echoing everywhere around him and yet at the same time it didn't come from anywhere.

 **I've waited for him...**

He did nothing but listen, hearing the words that escaped whoever's mouth and entered his mind like a streaming river, with nothing but darkness in his eyes and the feeling of being closed in consuming his body in a numbness that made him feel all but helpless.

 **For far too long..**

The voice filled his head and made it his only thoughts, thoughts that weren't his in a voice that he didn't recognize yet seemed almost familiar with.

 **I will not allow anyone to separate us..**

Words that seemed so soft and yet so loud, filling his ears and ringing in them as they came from no where and yet from everyone.  
What was this?..

What sort of trick?

It was a trick, some sort of joke.

No..

It couldn't be..

It felt so real, and yet..

 **My dearest..**

It felt so unreal at the same time. Nothing was real, this wasn't real. Yet everything was real. And this was a reality, even if not currently.  
Not yet.

 **Dearest brother..** ...

* * *

Zyro woke up all at once and nearly flung himself off the bed as he shot up off his pillow, his body shaking in a cold sweat as his breathing rapidly came out in pants. Frantically did the ginger-ravenette look around the room, his eyes darting this way and that as he thought the walls were closing in around him, and spotted his nightlight still shining brightly from the light bulb that Gingka had given him a few nights ago.  
Relaxing a bit, Zyro slowly evened out his breathing and made sure his muscles weren't tense anymore before brushing at his bangs that currently stuck to his forehead. Damn, it was hot.. And yet with the covers off it was too cold.  
Zyro sighed, knowing that he was going to psychically suffer through the night either way, and the fact that he was sweating more than he ever had really wasn't helping.  
With a heaviness in him, the Fire Blader flopped down onto his pillow with his arms spread out on either side of him, staring at the ceiling with the light of his nightlight in the corner of his eye.  
He always had a hard time remembering dreams, and even when he did remember quite a bit he'd soon forget about them - but this dream was unlike anything that he had ever had before in his life.

It seemed more real, yet unreal at the same time in an endless void of nowhere - at least, he couldn't remember seeing himself anywhere.  
And there was a voice, though it wasn't a voice that he recognized; it had seemed like a message in his dreams, sort of like how those people with a 6th sense have.  
His mother always told him that 'seers', or fortune-tellers, had dreams of the past, present, and future and that was usually how they predicted such things.  
Well, that and their crystal balls - though he seriously doubted they did anything.

He had never had a dream where it had been that clear, with just a void of nothingness speaking to him, unable to feel anything except for the fact that he was able to clearly think as he receded in the dream world.  
The words that were spoken were still a little blurry in his mind, but he remembered most of them. Something about waiting for someone, and not being separated.. He also thought he had heard the mentioning of someone's 'dearest'.  
Though he couldn't remember the word said after that, so it confused him greatly. Zyro sighed, his skin hot from the heat of the summer that he couldn't stand to bear every year - he didn't even know if Gingka could withstand this heat, and he had seen him in a tank top and sweatpants the night he had given him that light bulb.  
Though that only made him more concerned about the redhead, and the fact that knowing he hadn't yet returned to the B-Pit since early this morning only concerned him further.  
Maybe tomorrow would be able to get his mind off of all of this, and maybe the tournament would soon be able to commence with Genjuro and Ren's battle - now that was going to be a sight to see.

And hopefully, Gingka may be there. His legs just as sticky as the rest of his body, Zyro rolled over on the blankets, hugging a pillow like he always would back when he was younger, and pulled the covers up to his shoulders; hopefully he would be able to bear this for the rest of the night, and with reluctant eyelids did he fall asleep again.  
Though his dreams weren't any more pleasant than they had been...

* * *

Madoka looked across the breakfast table at Zyro, who had hardly ate anything and kept nodding away to sleep only to wake himself up continuously.  
Both Maru and Madoka watched Zyro as they ate their breakfast, blinking in unison as both glanced at each and other and then back to Zyro. Obviously he hadn't gotten much sleep last night.

"So.." Madoka said awkwardly, looking at Zyro, "How did you sleep last night?.." It took many moments for Zyro to answer, Maru even looking at the clock to see how much time had passed before he spoke.  
"Not very well.." He groaned softly, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up a bit more, "It was hot last night.."  
"Yeah, I gets hot around here in the summer." Maru said as she placed a hand on the side of her head in thoughtfulness, "I wasn't able to get to sleep for awhile, either.. Not to mention the fans don't really help." Zyro raised a hand to his mouth as he yawned deeply.

"Yeah.." He said tiredly, "Even with the bit of sleep I did get.. I just kept having nightmares all night.."  
"Well, maybe you should try and get some more sleep." Madoka suggested thoughtfully as a smile made its way onto her face, "There's nothing special planned today and I don't doubt Shinobu and the others would understand."  
The Fire Blader brought another hand up to one eye and rubbed the sleep out of it - not that it helped the fact that he was trying to prevent himself from falling out of his chair and passing out on the floor to dream away.  
"But I-"  
"No buts, Zyro." Madoka said firmly, standing up to clear her plate and Maru's, "Everyone needs sleep, _including_ champions. Now go rest up a bit, you're gonna need it sooner or later." Sincerely did Madoka take Zyro's plate - still mostly covered in the eggs, toast and bacon that she had made and took it over to the counter.  
Yawning once more, Zyro got up with tired and aching limbs from lack of sleep and tossing and turning last night, and pushing the chair in he left the room and went upstairs. It was only 8:00 to 8:30, so sleeping in awhile longer would be exceptional - though for all he knew he would probably be sleeping for 5 hours to catch up on that time.

His room was considerately dark, and didn't receive much light which was an upside to sleeping in, though he did lazily close the blinds just to be sure. With not much energy did Zyro climb back into bed, only taking one of the thinnest blankets and putting it over himself for a bit of warmth (also because he was afraid that monsters would attack him if he didn't, but he wouldn't admit that).  
With a small sigh did he lay his head down on the pillow, curling himself into a ball as an instinct to keep warm and closing his eyes in an ecstasy that he had never known. Then again, sleeping was usually all he ever really wanted to do, if it hadn't been for Beyblade coming into his life, and he was frankly glad it did. And even so, he was asleep in no time before anyone could even count sheep.  
But his dreams were still the same...

* * *

Darkness.

Nothing but that.

An endless void in which nothing was before his eyes, and a numbness that consumed his body save for his sense of thought and sight, though there was nothing to see.  
It was as if he were blind, and perhaps had people all around him and he was just standing there like an idiot with unmoving limbs that began to concern people - he could feel nothing, and maybe that was all he wanted to really feel, but at the same time it felt so wrong, to be standing there in helplessness that he couldn't do anything about.  
It was so peaceful, and yet so wrong, in a way that struck him in his core of which he could no longer see.  
And words, words that arose once more from the depths of nothingness, sounding everywhere around him and yet still coming from nowhere or any being that dwell near.

 **I've waited for him for far too long..**

Those words again..  
Words that repeated in his mind and rang in his ears in endless rhythms that he couldn't stand to hear.  
There was nothing.  
Absolutely nothing. He may as well dwell there in the nothingness that may as well be his very mind, with those words being his lullaby and his only train of thought as he stood there in the numbness that took over his body yet refused to fully consume him in a way to make him suffer eternally.  
But that was what he was willing to give for a moment of rest, even if that moment was an eternity...

* * *

Takanosuke skipped along behind Sakyo as they both walked down by the sea front, the redhead walking with a stoic face that almost always made him look like he was about to hit somebody. Takanosuke never asked questions about why he always looked like that though.  
Really, he never asked Sakyo anything about himself, just questions involving the Bridge To The Future Tournament.  
They had both been there to witness both Zyro's and Kite's battles so far, and hopefully the next one - though they were questioning when it was going to take place.

"Hey, Sakyo." Takanosuke in his usual cheery tone, coming up beside the taller blader so that he could see his face, "When do you think the next battle in the tournament is gonna be? And who do you think its gonna be?"  
Sakyo - as always - didn't answer the curly-haired blond right away, but Takanosuke had taught himself to wait politely for his answer.  
"That is yet to be seen, Takanosuke." Sakyo said in that rough voice of his, "We just have to wait and see for ourselves."  
"Well, yeah.." Takanosuke said, choosing his words carefully as to not agitate the redhead, "But what about if its one of us? Wouldn't they have told us by now?"  
"If it was one of us, they would've." Sakyo answered sooner than expected, but the blond didn't complain, "But they say there's a fallback, so no one can be entirely sure. Though even if it is one of us, I won't lose like I did to Zyro once.."  
Red eyes swiftly made their way over to the blond, causing him to jump in the slightest bit once he felt Sakyo's cold gaze upon him. "T-the same goes for me.." Takanosuke stuttered softly, "I promise I won't lose to anyone, Sakyo!"  
Sakyo's gaze remained on him for several moments, the back of his neck beginning to sweat in nervousness - the Dragon Blader then looked away, relieving Takanosuke and allowing him to breathe easier once again.

"Good." Sakyo said firmly, "I hope you look forward to being one of Japan's Representatives after this tournament is over.  
Sakyo and his pride; the blond knew it well, as did everybody that came across him. He had also learned to grow used to it in the time that he had spent with the older Blader, and maybe - hopefully - Sakyo wouldn't look at him the way that he did everyone else, though he had to be crazy to think that would ever _really_ be a reality.  
With no further words did Takanosuke continue to follow Sakyo, as he would until the end of time or when it was the moment for them all to move on...

* * *

Blood, sweat, and tears.

Despair, neglect, and hate.

The words that he repeated to himself over and over again, that those were all he was made up out of.

And it was true, that was all that he had ever been, formed into a person by the dark energy that consumed his entire being into a soul of vengeance.

He only wanted him back.

It was all he ever wanted.

He would do _anything_ to have him back.

Anything. And if this was the price that he had to pay to do so, then so be it - it would be done, and it would done by his leisure and _his_ only..  
Blood he had seen too many times in his so-called childhood, sweat he had endured from running away from the lies that he had heard over and over, and the tears he had shed as he cried out for someone.  
Anyone.  
No, not just anyone.

Despair, neglect and hate, those few words were true about him. He knew no other emotions in the heartless soul that was he, and that was all he wished to know. That was all he wanted until it would all be over..

It would all be over and he would have won.

Victory would be his, and only his..

He would get rid of everyone that stood in his way to get what was promised to him by the broken spirit of his father, the father that had failed years ago. He wouldn't fail.. He vowed he wouldn't fail, and this was the opportunity he had been waiting for for years.. It was only a matter of time...  
And then everything would be his. And he would have him back after so many years.  
Blood, sweat, and tears. Despair, neglect, and hate. Those were made up his being, and what kept him going.  
And it was what would reunite him with a precious thing that he had lost so many years ago. Too many years ago to count...

* * *

Gingka coughed into his hand again as he walked through several alleyways of Metal Bey on his way back to the B-Pit, his hand on the wall to support himself from losing his balance as a dizziness fought to take control of his mind.  
A groan escaped him, his head pounding from one temple across to the other and making it hard to even focus on where he was going.  
Small grunts escaped him every now and then, his eyes only half open as he shakily moved along the walls of the alleyway to try and get to his destination.  
He felt dozens of eyes upon him, even if there where absolutely none to be seen; nobody knew where he was except himself, though the feeling bore into the back of his skull with no intent on stopping.  
His breathing hitched every now and then, panting as the headache in his skull continued and didn't let him rest and eventually forcing him to stop walking. His irises visibly shook in the pain that took over his head, slowly leaning against the wall and sliding down it to the ground with both darkness and light surrounding him.

He hated this..

He hated this so much that he hurt just at how much he hated it - he didn't know if it could hurt anymore than it currently and psychically did.  
Soft whimpers escaped his lips once more, putting one hand on one of the his head as the pain threatened to make him freak out like it had roughly 2 nights ago and by now it was getting unbearable to the point where he felt like breaking. Gingka dipped his face down and took a majority of the fabric that was his scarf into his mouth, muffling out his whimpers of pain and closing his eyes as he begged for it to pass and leave him alone...  
No, it wouldn't leave him alone.  
It hadn't left him alone the entire week. Nothing had. His neck hurt with a burning sensation that felt like sharp needlepoints being driven in with no mercy, the feeling slowly spreading to his arms and causing tears to actually brim his eyes, though he absolutely refused to let them fall. He kept his mouth biting down on his scarf to occupy himself while the pain tortured him both inside and out.

Just breathe.

Just breathe.

That's all he had to do, and it would be fine, it would go away.

Just breathe.

In, and out.

In and out.

Just breathe.

His whimpers were muffled by the fabric in his mouth, rubbing his arms to occupy himself from the pain that burned through the upper half of his body and fought to consume the rest of him before it just stopped.  
Nervously did he open his eyes, which was blurred by the tears that rimmed them and threaten to fall from orbs of golden-brown that trembled in the pain that slowly yet surely passed.  
His entire quivering, he let go of the fabric that was his scarf, knowing that he'd have to clean it later..  
But that didn't matter to him right now, nothing did - all he cared about was that the pain was gone, that no one was able to see him like this while he was in this sort of state..  
Especially not Zyro..  
Dear god, he thanked the lord that Zyro couldn't see him right now..  
How it would kill him so deeply for innocent blue eyes to see him in such a state, the emotional damage that it could cause him, being stuck in his mind and replaying over and over again and never stopping as long as it receded in his head. Why did this have to happen?.. Why was this happening?..  
Gingka didn't care about the impact that it would have on himself; all he really cared about was the impact that this would all have on Zyro, and he would have to watch helplessly as innocent blue eyes were slowly corrupted by the darkness that would take his heart and eat away at it. He was disappointed that he had to be the one to cause that...

 _"Zyro.."_ He thought, that name echoing in his head so beautifully that he wanted to say it 1000 times over.  
 _"I'm sorry, I..."_ He couldn't even bring himself to think about those words, let alone speak them out to such a young face that wasn't there.  
He knew what Zyro wanted from him, he knew all too well since the young one was quite easy to read to his eyes; what he wished for was for the Legendary Blader to be proud of him..  
He be friends with him and hopefully surpass his skill someday.

 _"I'm already proud of you.."_ Those were the words that crossed his mentally suffering mind that no longer ached with pain but with the tears that brimmed his eyes.  
 _"Why can't I tell you that?.."_ Wiping his eyes on his gloved hand and hiding the partially soaked area of his scarf did Gingka stand up from his sitting position against the wall - with a mind clouded in his thoughts did he make his way towards the B-Pit...

* * *

Zyro kept sleeping the day away, all the way into the afternoon. He must have really needed sleep, as Maru had concluded when she came to wake him.  
The ginger-ravenette mumbled softly in his sleep with a bit of drool dribbling out of the side of his mouth and one arm hanging over the side of the bed lazily.  
"Zyro.." Maru said softly, reaching over and shaking him, "Zyro, wake up." A groan escaped the ginger-ravenette, beginning to stir and flipping over onto his back.  
"Mommy, no.." He murmured, "You don't have to use the red light.."  
"Zyro, wake up!" With a jump did the Fire Blader wake up from his state of unconsciousness, subconsciously licking and wiping the drool from the side of his mouth away and sitting him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm awake.." He said with a yawn as he rubbed his tired eyes, feeling way more rested than he had before.  
Zyro's blue eyes wandered over to Maru, yawning once more before speaking.  
"Hey Maru.. What are you doing in here?" "I came to wake you up." Maru said with a smile, "Its the afternoon and you've been sleeping all day!" Zyro stared at her for a moment before his eyes made their way over to the clock that hung on the wall, reading exactly 2:45. That was at least a good 6 hours.  
"And guess what?" Maru said excitedly, "Gingka's back, he just came in a few minutes ago!"  
Now that caught Zyro's attention more than anything had all day since he had been sleeping. "I'll be downstairs in 3 minutes." He claimed, watching Maru smile and then leave the room with a cheerful attitude. Zyro looked at the door for several moments, before rubbing his eyes again and jumping out of bed to get dressed, hoping that Maru wasn't joking when she said that Gingka was back.  
Of course, why would she of all people lie about something like that? In absolutely no time did Zyro leave his room, fully clothed in his regular everyday outfit and headed downstairs to greet the redhead back.

"Well look who decided to get out of bed." Madoka said with a small smile as Zyro came down the stairs, yawning as he reached the bottom.  
"Madoka told me you've been sleeping all day." The familiar male voice said with a small chuckle, "And by that I do mean pretty literally."  
Zyro finished rubbing his eyes, looking towards the redhead with a smile crossing his face. "Hey Gingka!" He said, hurrying up to the redhead and throwing his arms around his torso in a hug which caught the older blader off guard.  
A tinge of heartbreak and yet warmth that spread from his chest to every inch of his body. With a small chuckle did Gingka return the embrace to the young blader who didn't seem very intent on letting go.  
"I was only gone for 2 days, Zyro, it's not that big of a deal."

"Yeah, but..." Scratching his cheek out of embarrassment, Zyro pulled away from the redhead and averted his eyes, "Iwasworriedaboutyouokay?"  
Gingka looked at him for a moment as he unscrambled the quickly-said words into the proper sentence that they were supposed to be, for a smug look crossed his face.

"You missed me.." He said triumphantly, "Didn't you?"

Zyro put on a pouty face and looked away from the older blader.  
"No I didn't." He said stubbornly.  
"Yes you did." Gingka retorted with a smug look, "Admit it. You missed me."

"I did not!"

"Yes you did."

"Did not!"

"Just admit it." Both Madoka and Maru glanced at each other with awkward looks on their faces before turning their gazes back to the 2 bladers that couldn't be more alike than they already were.

"Just admit it, you missed me." Gingka probed with that smug look of his.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did."

"Okay!" Zyro exclaimed in defeat, not meeting Gingka's golden-brown eyes, "Yes.. I missed you, are you happy?" A small giggle made its way to Gingka's lips, before he lifted a hand and ruffled Zyro's hair with it playfully.  
"Hey~!" Zyro whined and ducked out from under his hand, causing the redhead to laugh softly which resulted in only a few lights coughs - nothing to bad.  
"You two are so immature.." Madoka sighed, shaking her head in unison with Maru who stood beside her.  
"Hey, we're mature!" Gingka replied with a pouty face, crossing his arms in defense.

"Yeah!" Zyro agreed, which resulted in them sharing a low-five. Yup, they would be excellent friends.  
It appeared that Gingka was about to say something else before they were cut short in words fell silent as if frozen in place.  
Maru looked up at Madoka questioningly and earned a shrug from her mentor before they both looked back to the 2.  
In the frightening silence did they faintly hear the sound of music from the streets outside of the B-Pit, chiming away in a tune that somehow effected the both of them. In unison did both Zyro and Gingka gasp excitedly before yelling at the top of the lungs in pure joy, at a volume that probably broke the sound barrier in mount Olympus much to the gods' annoyance.

"ICE CREAM!" Before Maru and Madoka had time to blink, both Gingka and Zyro had ran at lightning speed out of the building in excitement with their joyful laughter and supposed giggling echoing down the stairwell.  
Both of the mechanics just stood there, staring forward towards where the 2 bladers had originally been standing with dumbfounded looks on her face. In one swift movement did they both slap their faces with groans of disappointment - most likely in humanity.  
"Is he actually for real?.." Maru asked, looking up and over at her mentor.

"He's a fanatic for hamburgers, he's got enough energy to choke a horse, and he'll.. He'll sleep just about anywhere.." Madoka looked down at the pinkette hopelessly, "So I'm afraid so.."


	8. Chapter 7 - I'm Fine

Chapter 7 - I'm Fine

* * *

"We have absolutely no self-control whatsoever."

"Nope."

Both Zyro and Gingka stood there with their ice creams in hand, eating them out of plastic bowls that they wouldn't get everywhere when they melted.  
"Well, at least that's something we can agree on.." Madoka sighed as both she and Maru looked at the 2 bladers, of who had proven themselves to be the biggest dorks on the face of the planet.  
"Madoka, one does not simply shove off ice cream." Gingka stated as he ate his in small spoonfuls, "It is a gift from the gods themselves.."  
"I'm just goin' with what he says." Zyro said as he too ate his in spoonfuls.  
"You two are so alike.." Maru said with an awkward smile on her face, "No wonder you guys were able to defeat Doji." The redhead shrugged.  
"Well, that was week ago." He said, "I can't say I've battled since then, though.."

At this news did Zyro perk up slightly, looking over to the older blader with excitement.  
"Hey, maybe we can have a battle later, Gingka!" He insisted, taking another spoonful of his ice cream - which just happened to be strawberry.

"Sure I'd-"

"Not so fast, mister Hagane." Madoka said firmly, raising one finger in the air in a 'matter-of-fact' way, "You shouldn't be beybattling when your sick.. You shouldn't even be eating ice cream when your sick."  
The redhead fell silent, looking at Madoka for a moment before narrowing his eyes and turning his ice cream away from her.

"You will not take my ice cream away from me.." He said solemnly.

Zyro's blue orbs looked from Gingka to the redhead's ice cream, silently lifting his spoon and taking a small spoonful of the cookies 'n cream dessert and eating it without a word.  
"Zyro, why?" Gingka whispered in a dramatic way, which just earned a shrug from the younger blader beside him.  
"I dunno.." He said flatly, eating the rest of his own ice cream in the awkward silence. "Okay, you can keep the ice cream.." Madoka said to Gingka with a sigh, "But _no_ beybattling while your sick, Gingka."  
The Pegasus Blader was about to protest before he saw the firm look on Madoka's face, and his shoulders slumped in defeat.  
"Fine.." He whined, taking another small spoonful of his ice cream.

"Promise?" Madoka questioned firmly, not exactly wanting to put so much pressure of the currently ill blader but wishing to make sure he didn't get any more sick than he already was.

"I promise..." Gingka murmured, taking more small spoonfuls of ice cream with Zyro, the two never looking more alike than they did currently.  
"I still can't believe you two are actually for real.." Maru said jokingly with a half-smile on her face, earning a small giggle from Madoka.  
They were definitely a strange pair of bladers, but that was what always happened when you formed friendships - things would start out awkward, and then weird, and eventually you would treasure each other.  
But that didn't mean there wouldn't be more hurt along the way...

* * *

"Director!" Hikaru called out from down the hall, managing to stop Tsubasa in his tracks and look back at her as she hurried up to him in her high-heels.  
"Hey, Hikaru." Tsubasa greeted with a smile, looking far more rested than he had the night before, "How are you doing today? I hope you didn't stay up all night working."

"Don't worry." Hikaru said with a smile, "I finished a few things up as fast as I could, then I went home and slept like a baby... Its funny what a few too many cups of Espresso can do." Tsubasa chuckled softly.  
"That's good. Did you manage to figure out where we stand at in the tournament currently."

"I did." Hikaru said with a smile, "Everything should be ready by tomorrow for Ren and Genjuro's battle."  
The silvernette sighed in relief, finally able to rest easy upon the subject now that Hikaru had been able to settle things.  
"That's good.." He said with a relieved sigh, "I'm glad I was at least able to get most of it done so that you didn't have to do so much last night." Hikaru simply replied a smile. "Its fine, don't worry about it. Besides, you have more important things to worry about - like whether or not Zyro and the others are going to be the Representatives of Japan or not."

"Yeah, I know.." Tsubasa said while he crossed his arm, "Hopefully Ren's battle'll go well tomorrow. Zyro and Kite have already won their battles, yet I'm not so sure how the rest of them will do."  
"I don't doubt she'll win, Director." Hikaru said with a small smile, "After all, Ren has incredible skill, and she did win against Genjuro the last time, didn't she?"  
Tsubasa chuckled softly again and nodded.  
"Yeah, that's true." He agreed, "Also, there's something I wanted to talk to you about, Hikaru. If you have a minute that is."

"Oh, of course!" Hikaru said contently, "What is it?"...

* * *

Both Hikaru and Tsubasa walked along the halls of the WBBA, the blue-haired woman still carrying her laptop around with her in her arms as she usually did.  
"You're co-workers have told me you've been quite.. Distant, lately." Tsubasa explained kindly, walking along with Hikaru beside him, "Sichiro said he's worried about you and that you might be slacking in your work."  
Hikaru's blueish-purple eyes looked away from the Director of the WBBA, facing down to the ground as they walked ahead.  
"Well, as stuck-up as he may be, Sichiro is the one who's been closest me other than you and the others..." She said softly, reflecting on times long ago.  
"Yeah, but that's not my point." The silver-haired man said as he fixated his gaze on her, "My point is is that he - and I - are worried about you... I don't want you to be pushing yourself to hard, okay."

For many moments, Hikaru did not answer the silverette as they walked, almost slowing down in her pace as a sad look came to her eyes.  
"It's not that, Director.. Its just..." She didn't know how to say to it. She didn't even know _if_ she should say it, but she knew that Tsubasa would want an explanation - and he _was_ he boss.  
"The anniversary of.. My mother's death was a few days ago.." She said softly in a tone that was barely audible, "That's why I asked beforehand if I could take the afternoon off.."  
"I see..." He said, looking away from the bluenette in an awkwardness that was not common between the two of them.  
"I'm very sorry, Hikaru." Tsubasa apologized as they both stopped walking, "I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, no!" Hikaru said quickly, shaking her head with an insistent look, "You didn't do anything, Director. Besides, my mom died 15 years ago.. You shouldn't feel bad."  
Tsubasa took a moment to look over the assistant, who stood there with a type of sorrow behind those eyes that he had known for many years and hopefully many years to come.  
"If your sure, Hikaru.." He said with an apologetic smile, which Hikaru returned with a genuine one.  
"I should get back to work." She insisted, seeming to have a heaviness lifted from her shoulders, "We don't wanna fall behind again in the tournament, now do we?"

"Definitely not. I'll see you later." With a quick wave did Hikaru hurry way, holding her laptop close to her so that she wouldn't drop it as she went to assure that the preparations were coming along for the BTF.  
Shaking his head with a small smile, Tsubasa turned and went to head back for his office.  
While simultaneously having a feeling in the back of the skull that someone - something - was watching him from somewhere.  
Almost as soon as he had started walking, he stopped, looking over his shoulder to the hallway behind him. No one was there.  
He looked down the hall of which he was heading, and then towards the beginning of the hallway that Hikaru had gone down - still, there was no one.  
With a tenseness throughout his body that almost prevented him from moving, Tsubasa simply shrugged it off and kept walking down the hall back towards the office that he had as the President of the WBBA.  
He was sure it was nothing, that it was just a small mistake that had been made by his mind. He believed that it was nothing when he heard his own name echo in his ears in a voice that he could not recognize as anyone he knew.  
He convinced himself that it was nothing.  
But that feeling still lingered there in the back of his skull...

* * *

"Hey guys!" Zyro called as he ran up to his friends, Gingka walking slowly behind him as running sometimes tended to take a tole on him - even if he could run a considerable amount of time.  
"There you are!" Ren exclaimed with a smile, "We've been waiting _all day_ , Zyro. Where have you been?" Zyro averted his eyes awkwardly with a dorky smile, scratching the back of his head even though he wasn't itchy.  
"Yeah..." He said, extending the word, "I kinda slept in."  
"Till 3:00 in the afternoon?" Kite questioned while raising and eyebrow to the Fire Blader, his glasses catching the sun slightly.  
"I had trouble sleeping last night, soooo..." Zyro began, still a bit embarrassed to tell them.  
"Madoka let him go back to bed, and he slept for a few hours." Gingka said in an amused tone as he caught up with the younger blader, a hand on his hip as he had one of those smug looks on his face.

"G-Gingka.." Shinobu stuttered in surprise, not expecting to see the elder blader.  
"Its been awhile since we've seen you." Eight perked up, standing up on his tip-toes before bringing his heels back down to earth.  
"Yeah, well I've been around." Gingka said halfheartedly as he shrugged with a smile. "Will you be able to beybattle with us?" Shinobu asked the redhead eagerly, who gave them an apologetic smile. "Well, I would, but Madoka strictly told me that I'm not allowed to when I'm sick.." Zyro's blue eyes looked over the Legendary Blader beside him. "She's not here, so she wouldn't know." He suggested.  
"Yeah." Ren agreed, "And besides, who tells _the_ Gingka Hagane what he can and can't do?" A bit flustered, Gingka scratched the side of his cheek lightly with an embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

"Believe me, I've tried.." He said awkwardly, "But she _always_ knows.. And she's scary sometimes..."  
The younger bladers stared at the older one for many moments, as if trying to establish the words that the redhead had just said to them.  
It wasn't long before they all burst out into laughter and fits of giggles while Gingka stood there with his arms crossed and a look on his face that showed he was pouting.

"I-I'm sorry!" Ren exclaimed through her laughter, wiping a tear away from her eyelashes, "But that is the funniest thing I've ever heard!"  
Gingka didn't answer as his face turned red with embarrassment, almost ducking his head away in his scarf as he pouted there silently.  
Gently did Zyro put a hand on his shoulder, both to tell him that it wasn't of hard feelings and to steady himself so that he didn't fall over from laughing so hard.  
"It's okay, Gingka!" He said, laughing still, "We don't judge you!.."  
It took several minutes for the young bladers to calm down in their fits of laughter, stitches having been embedded in their sides while holding them and waiting for the stinging pain to stop. Even so, they had no regrets.  
"A-anyway.." Zyro said as his laughter died down at last, "I came to tell you guys... That Madoka got some news from the WBBA, and the tournament continues tomorrow."  
"Really?!" Ren exclaimed in excitement, "That's great! I've been sure to be training all day while you were asleep, Zyro. I'll beat Genjuro for sure."

Her brown eyes looked up towards the Legendary Blader of which several of them had come to idolize, though not as much as Zyro did.  
"Will you be there, Gingka?" She asked, their eyes once more wandering over to the redhead. All he did was simply smile.  
"Don't worry, I'll be watching.." He said, "Even if I'm not with Madoka and the others. But I'd think it'd be a good idea to train before tomorrow." With an excited attitude did the young bladers happily oblige, Gingka coming along with them as went to the center of the Bey Park to train with each other - Ren was the one who trained the most as it was her battle that would take place the day after.  
Gingka - of course - didn't battle but simply stayed on the sidelines and watched, coughing into his hand every now and then of which somewhat concerned Zyro as it became frequent; the redhead also tended to pull his scarf up around his neck every now and then.  
Though his mind didn't fret to much on the subject as he both watched and battled his friends, helping out Ren and making sure that she would be ready for tomorrow.  
Nobody questioned Gingka's slight sketchiness, or the face that he kept rubbing his upper arms slightly where his sleeves were folded up to - nobody noticed his condition, and nobody questioned it...

* * *

Golden-brown eyes, shadowed by the darkness of his soul, watched them all with a passive expression, his face and body still shadowed by the darkness that only the light of the screens penetrated.  
"How incompetent.." He said softly, his voice echoing in the room of metal, "And yet when she wins everything will take a turn for the worst.. At least, it will for them.."  
A soft giggle escaped him, almost childishly at the fact.  
"She has more than enough skill to win.." He said to himself, "And when she does, everything will begin to come into place.. Perhaps victory will come even sooner than I anticipated.. Wouldn't you agree?"

He turned towards the woman that stood across the room from him as she always had, looking forward blankly with shaded eyes that could see him well in the darkness.  
"Of course..." She said in what was almost monotone, "There is no doubt.. As long as there are no interruptions upon the battle.."  
A soft chuckle escaped him once more.  
"But of course.." He said in an almost carefree tone, "And you'll make sure there are no interruptions that could stop her from winning, now won't you?"  
"Of course.." She said as he walked near her, not moving a muscle as she never felt tense around him - not that she had a choice to be.

"And what will you do if someone _does_ interfere?.."

"I will neutralize them on target, and eliminate them if chosen necessary.."

"My, my, you seem to have it together almost better than I do..." He said playfully, putting a hand on her cheek in a mocking gentleness that she did not give a reaction too, "It really is a good thing that I have you here to help.. Of course I could do it without you, but this way makes it all the more fun... Wouldn't you agree?.."  
She gave him no answer, as she knew that he wanted none. He eyed her mischievously, before simply chuckling like a small child and turning away from her.  
"I just can't help but find it amusing... How soon he'll be suffering so much he won't be able to bear it.. How they'll _all_ be suffering..."  
The woman - who stood where she was - looked towards the man slightly, barely any sign of emotion on her shadowed face.

"But would you not care about his suffering?.." She questioned softly, stopping the other in his tracks, "For he is-"

"That doesn't matter to me!.." He snapped, silencing her as his shoulders tensed at the near reminder.  
"I believe that you misunderstand my meanings..." He said, calming himself down as he turned to her slightly with his body at an angle, "It doesn't mutter how much he has to suffer, how much they _all_ have to suffer!... I just want-.."

Silence struck him for several moments before speaking again, "You know what my motives are.. And I won't stop until those goals are achieved. Do you understand me?"  
Without her emotionless mask being phased, she spoke solemnly.  
"I do.." She said, "I will assure that there are no interruptions whatsoever."  
His dark blue hair partially covering his eyes, the man nodded and turned away from his 'pet', heading back over to the many screens that covered the circular walls of the room.  
"How I can't wait to see their broken little faces..." He said to himself, as if forgetting that there was someone else in the room, "And then finally... Finally... He'll be back... I'll have him back..." All that were heard were the high-heeled footsteps that left the room, evenly lined up with each other as not a word more was spoken...

* * *

Gingka once more coughed into his hand as he stood beside Zyro and Shinobu, watching as Ren faced off against both Kite and Eight at once.  
"Go, Phoenix!" She cried, her Bey clashing with both Leviathon and Orochi simultaneously and knocking Orochi out of the ring as it was at its limit for hits. With Orochi kindly out of the way, Thief Phoenix went after Kite's Bey.  
Zyro and Shinobu both watched eagerly, still amazed at Ren's level of skill even if it didn't truly compare with Zyro's.  
Gingka did watch as well, though the redhead mostly had his mind focused on other things besides the battle that currently happened in front of him.  
Like the constant burning in his upper arms as he kept rubbing them in a way that made it seem like he was cold.  
Every now and then would he let out a shaky breath, coughing softly as his chest began to ache with whatever could be caught up in there.  
Zyro would give him concerned look here and there which he simply responded with a small, reassuring smile each time that relaxed the Fire Blader. In no time was Ren able to defeat Kite as well, his Bey flying back just past the brunette's head and near Eight, who was currently standing off to the side.

"Okay.." Ren said energetically, wiping the sweat off of her forehead with her sleeve, "So, who's next?"  
"Sorry Ren.." Shinobu apologized, "But I think were pretty beat.." That was something that they would all agree with, save for Gingka.  
Ren had beaten the 4 at least twice already, and how _she_ wasn't totally worn out was a complete mystery, though maybe that was simply from the rush of the battles that kept her going all this time.  
"Oh come on~!" She complained, "Who else am I gonna train with if not you guys? Besides, I have a battle tomorrow."  
"True." Gingka said in a matter-of-fact way, "And granted that training is valuable when you have an upcoming battle in a tournament - as I know from experience - you should also get some rest so that you don't wear yourself out before the battle in question occurs."  
The young bladers all stared at him for many moments, Gingka's golden-brown eyes glancing at them one by one as they gazed upon him like he was crazy. He wasn't crazy - not entirely anyway.

"Sooo..." Kite said in an awkward tone, "Is this how you became the Number 1 Blader in the World or is that just a myth?" All Gingka did was shrug and say, "Meh.." Like it wasn't a big deal. Honestly, he didn't really remember how that happened. Maybe it was because he saved the world multiple times.  
"Hey, why don't you battle me, Gingka?" Ren said in a hopeful tone, almost making the puppy-dog eyes towards the older blader.  
"Believe me, Ren." He said with an apologetic smile, "I'd agree to battle you before you can even catch your breath, and I've tried to battle before while I'm sick... But Madoka always knows.. And its actually kinda scary, like she has some sort of computer chip in her brain that goes off whenever I'm beybattling and I'm supposed to."  
Almost immediately did he receive laughter from the younger bladers, Eight and Zyro almost losing their balance while Shinobu, Ren, and Kite had better control over themselves - they were actually surprised that Kite actually had such a thing as a sense of humor from how serious he usually was.

Gingka chuckled softly as well, a kind look in his eyes before it was broken by another fit of coughing that took his body.  
Slowly did the laughter stop as they all realized that this was 'small' fit was much longer, louder, and harder than the rest that he had showed that day. The redhead had his eyes closed shut, coughing violently into his hand and almost losing his balance.  
Zyro noticed and gently placed his hands on the Legendary Blader's arm to steady him as he coughed continuously into his hand.  
It look a few moments before it managed to stop, leaving the Pegasus Blader in a slight daze with pain in his chest from the coughing fit.  
"Gingka, are you alright?" Zyro asked in concern, his friends also having concern on their faces for the redhead.

"I-I..." The older blader managed to choke up, trying to clear his throat so that he was able to speak well enough for them to at least be able to make out what he was saying.  
"I... T-think so.." He managed to say, clearing his throat again as he tried to get over his dizziness.  
"That was a big one.." Eight said with worry in his green eyes, "That doesn't sound like any normal cold."  
"I-I don't sick often, so..." Gingka croaked out as he cleared his throat time and time again, trying to get the strain out of it, ".. So when I do... It takes its tole on me..."  
Zyro still looked at him with sincere blue eyes filled with concern, making sure that he could keep his balance before taking his hans off of him. "Are you gonna be okay?" Zyro asked out of concern.  
"Y-yeah.." Gingka said with a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I-I'll be fine.. But I should go..."

The younger bladers simply nodded, watching the older one off as he departed from them and disappeared from the Beypark to elsewhere.  
"I hope he gets better." Ren said to break the silence, "That's one nasty cold he's going there.." "That, or what Zyro said is true..." Shinobu said, looking toward his best friend, "He might just have a cold, but it sure doesn't sound like it."  
The rest of them really couldn't agree more, especially Zyro. He didn't know exactly what was going on, or if he was simply overreacting over nothing, but something was definitely wrong with Gingka...

* * *

"Hey, Maru!" Madoka called as she hurried up the stairs, stopping at the top and looking at the pinkette who was currently typing on her laptop.  
"Yes, Chief?" She asked, looking towards her teacher.  
"I hope your ready to watch Ren's battle today." Madoka said, "I don't doubt that you'll get some serious data from it."  
"Ready?" Maru repeated slowly, before closing her laptop and leaping out of her chair with glee, "I'm _more_ than ready!"  
The brunette giggled softly at her student's excitement. "Good. I sure hope that Gingka will be able to show up again... He didn't turn up last night.."  
Maru gave her a reassuring smile, which almost immediately enlightened her soul. "Well, I'm sure he'll be watching." The pinkette said, "Everyone always is, especially in the Beyblade capital of the world."  
"Yeah, I guess your right.."

In the blink of eye did Zyro come racing down the stairs, actually skipping a few stairs and nearly tripping on one of them before quickly catching himself.  
"So, we gonna watch a bey battle or what?!" Both Madoka and Maru stared at the over-excited blader for several moments, before sweat-dropping with awkward smiles. "Uh, yeah, okay." Madoka managed to say as she forced down laughter at Zyro's excitement.  
"I totally bet Ren's gonna win against Genjuro!" Maru exclaimed as she hugged her laptop to her chest.  
"You bet, and were all gonna be there!" Zyro exclaimed a well as he pumped a fist into the air.  
"Well.." Madoka began, "I'm not so sure Gingka will be there, though... He didn't show up last night, so I imagine he was off somewhere doing something. But hopefully he'll be watching." Zyro seemed disappointed at first, before covering it up with a small smile that made it seem like he didn't mind.  
"Well, I'd agree with ya there." He said.  
The 3 all bickered with each other before leaving the B-Pit for the WBBA, Zyro's friends catching up with the rest of them and following towards the Bey Stadium in which hundreds were already gathered.  
Zyro and the others stood at the sidelines, while Ren and Genjuro stood in the darkness of the entrances to the stadium and waiting for their call.

Genjuro - somehow - didn't feel nervous at all.  
"Remember, Genjuro..." Came the voice of their leader, of which he did not care for in turning around to, "If you lose, this will have consequences on whether or not we lead as Japan's Representatives."  
"I know, Kira.." The dirty-blond said gruffly, feeling the stronger blader's aura raging from behind him, knowing he was only feet away and could say anything that would enrage him at any moment. But Kira said nothing.  
"Don't." The silverette begin, "Let her win.."  
Footsteps echoed from behind him, and the presence of Kira was gone.  
 _"I won't lose.."_ Genjuro told himself with a confidence that burned with his soul, _"I won't lose to her again.."_ Their names were called, and they both knew what they had to do. They both knew that it was either go big or go home in this tournament and they were both willing to put it out there for their team.

Everyone watched as they entered the stadium and into the light, Tsubasa, Madoka, Benkei, and Maru watching from far above while Gingka remained absent.  
Though, from the distance, the redhead watched in silence as the battle was about to begin, seeing Zyro and the rest of his friends at the sidelines and cheering for the blond like there was nothing more important in the world.  
And in their little minds, there wasn't anything more important... Not yet, at least.  
For soon, that innocence on their faces - on Zyro's - would be extinguished into nothing and he would be forced to watch as so.  
And perhaps that would sooner than he thought it would - sooner than he had feared it would be.  
No one else knew, but he did.  
Because he knew there was someone else watching - to everyone's obliviousness - in a place that could never and not be seen.  
He could feel his eyes.  
He could feel them burning into his soul and everyone else's at that very second. His eyes were watching.  
Because they were everywhere.

 **She Will Win..**


	9. Chapter 8 - Cry Of The Phoenix

Chapter 8 - Cry Of The Phoenix

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Blader Gai announced in his booming voice from the speakers, "Welcome to the third match in the Bridge To The Future Tournament!"  
The crowd roared with cheers, reaching a volume that was almost deafening - though everyone could truly care less.  
"In this battle today, we have Genjuro Kamegaki!" At the sound of his name and the deafening cheers that rang out, Genjuro stepped into the arena with that bitter expression on his face that - at the same time - held no emotion at all.  
"And Ren Kurenai!"  
More cheers erupted from the crowd as Ren walked out into the arena as well, a rather smug yet confident look on her face as she walked forward to meet her opponent in the stadium.

"Come on Ren!" Zyro exclaimed as he hung over the edge of the railing along with Takanosuke, who had showed up with Sakyo along with the rest of them.  
"You can beat him!" The male blond called out, not caring as he felt Sakyo's eyes upon him and too filled up with excitement to barely control himself.  
Both bladers made their way into the Cyclone Bey Stadium, their platforms rising up in preparation for them to battle with the stadium not far below.  
Ren smirked as she readied her launcher, placing her Phoenix within and - in unison with Genjuro - getting ready to launch.

"Bladers, ready!"

"3!"

The crowd called out, the excitement fueling their blood.

"2!"

Gingka's eyes tiredly watched, his scarf swishing around him in movements that were only heavenly as he waited for the battle to take place.

"1!"

Ren's eyes blazed with the fire that burned in the soul of her Phoenix, feeling its wings spreading as it readied itself for flight.

"Let it rip!"

Everybody yelled in unison, and in a flash did both Ren and Genjuro launch their Beys into the stadium, beginning their chase.  
Cheers roared throughout the audience, Zyro and the others - save Sakyo - cheering the loudest of them all for their teammate who was already beginning to put up a fierce fight.  
"Go, Phoenix!" Ren cried out, her Bey speeding up behind Bandit Genbu and clashing with it fiercely. Of course, Bandit Genbu fought back, even with being a Stamina type.  
"You think I'll lose to you this time, Ren?" Genjuro questioned with venom dripping in his voice, "Because its not going to happen! I lost to you once, and that's as high as the count is going to go! Go hard, Genbu!"  
The symbol of Genbu on top of the face bolt pulsated with its aura and turned upon Phoenix which didn't back down. Zyro and his friends watched in amazement as the 2 Beys clashed with each other, Ren's striking fiercer while Genjuro's took the hits with no problems so far.

"Come on Ren!" Takanosuke called out to his teammate, "Show that guy who's boss!"  
Sakyo's red eyes flashed over to the younger one, watching as he leaned over the railing while still able to keep his feet off the ground to prevent himself from going over the edge - he didn't really want to try and catch Takanosuke, since he did quite hate pointing at the fact that he actually cared.  
Maybe he did care about the blond boy, but he would never admit them - not even to himself. "My thing is is if Ren doesn't wear herself out to badly." Shinobu said as he watched Ren's battle closely, "And that she didn't use to much of her power yesterday."

"Well, Ren's always had enough power to take on at least 3 opponents at once," Kite noted, looking over the dirty blond, "And the power from our bonds with her basically doubles that. But Genjuro is another story."  
His glances caught the reflection of the sun as he looked towards the dark blond-haired boy that stood across from Ren.  
"I almost can't read those two's power level." Maru said as she looked back and forth from the battle to her laptop, her fingers typing away frantically as she quickly and precisely tried to get down all of the data and readings that she was receiving.

"B-bull!" Benkei exclaimed, still having that habit of saying his little 'catchphrase' over the years, "This is one intense battle! I dunno who's gonna win!"  
Tsubasa watched the battle with focus before he heard the door slid open and the sound of what seemed to be high-heeled shoes hurrying into the room.  
"Hey, I hope I didn't miss out on anything!" Hikaru said as she came up beside Madoka, her laptop in her arms and finally stopping to catch her breath.  
"Hikaru, what are you doing here?" Madoka asked with curiosity over at her blue-haired friend.

"Well, everyone else has everything covered so I came to watch." Hikaru explained, "I would've watched the last two battles with you, but I had a lot to do."  
Without further ado did they all send their gazes back to the 2 fiercely clashing opponents. Fire burned in Ren's eyes as she attacked Genjuro, who was still holding out quite well since Genbu was a Stamina type.  
Of course, it wouldn't stop her from winning again.  
"Now, Phoenix!" Ren called out, "Molten Wing!"  
In a flash of light did the spirit of Ren's Phoenix reveal itself at last, staring into the eyes of the turtle that was Bandit Genbu.  
Genjuro was barely given time to react before Thief Phoenix threw its attention away from the other Bey and began spinning around the stadium so fast it left a trail of fire in its wake.

"There it is folks!" Blader Gai called from the big screen, "Thief Phoenix has lit up the stadium and it doesn't look like it wants to have a nice party!"  
"Genbu!" Genjuro called out to his Bey as it began to be driven within the flames that concealed the Bey he was versing.  
"I will not lose to you again, Ren Kurenai!" He shouted fiercely, "Genbu, deflect it!"  
"That's not gonna work, Genjuro!" Ren retorted with a smug look on her face, "Go hard, Phoenix!" The screech of the Phoenix echoed in everyone's ears, the fire that was one with Ren burned fiercely in her eyes as the ring of fire intensified and pulled Bandit Genbu in at a pace that Genjuro didn't have time to control.  
The edges of their Bey's clashed, everyone witnessing as Genbu went flying through the Zero-G stadium.  
Zyro and his friends leaned at the edge of their seats - though it was the railing, really - while the other Fire Blader bit his lip in anticipation.  
Would this be the hit? Apparently not, as Bandit Genbu wasn't finished battling and landing on the side of the stadium where it tilted while it spun before regaining its balance. Ren narrowed her eyes.

"You got lucky there, Genjuro, but next time that's not happen!" In an instant did the fearsome battle restart, one Bey running and the other one chasing, clashing against each other with both darkness and light on one side and the other.  
"Your the one who's going to run out of luck!" Genjuro snapped, "Genbu!" Despite it being a Stamina type, Genbu turned and accept the attack one another and causing everyone to have to squint their eyes in the light that they produced.  
"This is intense!" Eight shouted over the noise of cheering with Kite made sure to stand behind him and keep him on his feet.  
"I thought Genjuro would've been taken out for sure!" Zyro said over the voices of everything, earning a glance from Shinobu.  
"Apparently not!" The dirty-blond said to his best friend.

"Phoenix and Genbu are clashing fiercely, and it makes you wonder..." Blader Gai paused for a split second as he threw his arms out, "Who will come out on top!?"

Ren smirked, the fire returning to brown eyes which made them seem red. "If anyone's gonna walk away from this battle in victory, its me!" She said proudly, "Phoeni-"

 **"COME.."**

All in one instant of time did Ren get cut short, everything around her nearly stopping as the voice echoed in her ears. Her pupils dilated and her posture changed from fierce to almost vulnerable.  
Without warning did Genbu clash into Phoenix, sending it flying a little ways before landing at the other side of the Zero-G stadium.  
"Phoenix!" Ren cried in alarm as she had broke her concentration. Madoka and her friends stood there shocked.  
"What just happened?" She questioned, knowing that the others had noticed Ren stall for a moment. "I don't know, but she just seemed out of it right there." Hikaru analyzed with what she had witnessed, "I don't think I've ever seen that happen to someone before.."  
"Especially not to Ren of all people." Tsubasa replied as they continued to watch the battle. Now that Ren had gotten back on track, she was more focused than ever as she drove Phoenix on its path to victory.

"Fly, Phoenix!" She cried, "Finish him o-"

 **"COME.."**

One more did she stop, stopping mid-sentence and unable to finish the command as all that she could think and hear was the voice that spoke in her head.

 **"Come!"**

The blond gasped, her attention being thrown away from the battle as she looked one way and then the other.  
"Who's there?!" She questioned fiercely, "Who are you?!"  
In reality, she spoke to no one. A voice that no one else could hear and maybe everyone grow concerned and watching her with worry.  
"Ren, what's wrong?" Zyro called out, the concern growing in his soul as an uneasy feeling built up in his stomach.  
"What's this?" Blader Gai questioned as he too watched the battle take a rather strange turn, "Ren Kurenai seems to have lost all focus on the battle! How will this turn out for her?" Another gasp escaped Ren as she witnessed her Phoenix being thrown again by Genbu.  
"No, Phoenix!" She called, trying to focus her mind back on the battle that lay before her, knowing that everything stood on the razor thin line of who would win.

"We can-"

 **"Come to me!.."**

A sharp cry escaped her, once more unable to finish the sentence she had been about to say as her mind was grabbed and pulled away from the battle towards what it was saying.

 **"Here me!.. And come!"**

Ren looked around frantically, a growing darkness clouding her mind as she only heard and focused on the voice that echoed in her head.  
"Who are you?!" She shouted, turning her body slightly at her waist to look back behind her without really turning, "Why are you talking to me?!"  
Everyone watched as she yelled at nothing, a frantic look on her face that seemed to be of either panic or me - perhaps both.  
"What's going on?" Hikaru asked as they all watched Ren in confusion, "Why is she so out of it?" "Better question.." Maru began, "Who is she trying to talk to? There's no one there!"  
Madoka held one hand in the other, bringing them up to her chest as fear for the younger blader grew evermore.  
"Should we stop the tournament?" She asked, looking over at Tsubasa who returned her gaze. "There's no point, that would send us back all the days we had the fallback." He explained, looking back to the battle, "I don't know what's happening, but its not good."

"Ren, snap out of it!" Takanosuke called with his hands around his mouth to make his voice travel. "I don't get it.." Shinobu said, "What's wrong with her? Why is she acting this way?" He got no answered as Genbu repeatedly clashed against Phoenix, and with no orders from its blader did the Fire Elemental Bey remain a vulnerable target as he was sent flying once more.  
"Uh oh!.." Ren cried out as she realized that she had just sent herself back at least 7 seven steps than Genjuro.  
"What's wrong, Ren?" The other blond asked, "You seem confused!" Ren grit her teeth, anger on her face which she quickly morphed into determination to win.  
"Me and Phoenix will never lose to you!" She said, "Not again, not ever! Now go-"

 **"Come to me!"**

"Stop it!" She suddenly shouted, whipping around as the voice continued with her mind, sounding like it came from everywhere and yet no where, with a tone that sounded so distorted that it would forever be unrecognizable.  
"Stop talking to me!" She demanded, looking around frantically as her mind began to break things apart and be unable to recognize things. "What do you want from me?!"  
No one had any idea what to say at Ren's behavior, hearing her words but unable to make sense of them as she had seemingly forgotten about the battle altogether.

 **"Here my voice!"**

Her breathing became heavy, unable to make sense of anything as a mist cover her brain and refused to clear from it in a violent death grip.  
"Show yourself!" She demanded, her pupils dilated and her irises visibly trembling as she turned this way and that, as if looking for something that wasn't really there.  
There wasn't anything there, so what was she talking about? Why was this happening?  
She couldn't even feel it anymore when Phoenix was clawed at, scratched at, its wings being pulled and feathers violently being ripped off.  
Genbu knew no mercy, and Ren would get none if she didn't fight.  
"Show yourself and leave me alone!" She cried out in a shrill voice as the voices continued, filling her mind and making her think of nothing but what she was hearing.

 **"Here me now.. And come to me!"**

"Stop it!" She cried out, terrifying other bladers and causing young ones to huddle against their guardians or older siblings. "Stop talking to me!"  
"Ren, there's no one there!" Zyro called out, trying to get through to his friend, "Snap out of it!"

He had never seen Ren ever act this way.

Nobody had ever seen her act this way.

Her teammates ruthlessly called out to her, trying to get her attention and bring back the blond's senses towards the battle she had seemingly forgotten about entirely - but nothing they tried was working.  
"What do you want?!" Ren shouted, her mind to far gone to even realize what was happening around her, and unable to feel or hear Phoenix's cries as she let it be attacked by Genbu and sent flying multiples into different sides of the stadium to the point where it was tilting as it spun.  
Bandit Genbu, on the other hand, was fine - Genjuro couldn't have asked for a better advantage at winning the battle.

 **"Come to me!.."**

Ren's eyes looked around, unable to see anything around her as her mind tried to fight against the mist that had ultimately covered it and refused to let go. Everything was of darkness.  
"What do you want from me?!" She demanded again, ruthlessly crying out to no one as she tried to the find the source of the voice that was talking to her, "Leave me alone!"  
Genjuro smirked, chewing on the stem of the dandelion in his mouth and - in all honesty - caring less about Ren's condition than he did about winning the battle for his fellow teammates; nobody ever wanted to face Kira's wrath.  
As Ren's mind drifted further and further away from sanity, Gingka kept his eyes on her, his face growing pale as he witnessed the state that she was in.  
He could see the perpetual fear upon Zyro's face, as well as the other WBBA bladers that had never witnessed such an act from the girl before them.  
What was the cause of this? He didn't understand, and he knew that none of them did - Ren had never acted this way before, not ever, and they never thought that there would come a day when she had lost her mind.  
But - apparently - they had been wrong and that was proven by the sight before them.

"Who are you?!" Ren shouted, turning half-towards the Bey battle that she should've been paying attention to, but could no longer comprehend at all. She was too far gone to recognize anything at this point as an inevitable darkness placed itself before her eyes and blinded her from making sense of anything.  
Gingka's golden-brown eyes narrowed slightly, his breathing shallow as he felt the eyes upon him that - in a cruel reality - weren't even really there.  
Ren was acting this way and talking to something that wasn't anything, none of them able to hear the voices that she was seemingly hearing in her mind - though the cause of such a thing was entirely unknown.  
But Gingka had a pretty good idea of whatever was happening, and who - or what - exactly was causing it.  
Genjuro's eyes flashed darkly, the aura of his Bey surrounding him and fusing them together as one.  
The marking on the face bolt of his Bey pulsated and glowed, knowing that the time had come.

"Now, Genbu!" He cried, "Rolling Shell Break!"  
In a roar of triumph did the spirit of Genbu emerge from its Bey while Phoenix stood defenseless with its head quivering behind its wings.

 **"Come to me NOW!"**

Ren gasped, the mist from around her mind lifting and everything coming back to reality; she sensed Phoenix's pain all to late, as they all witnessed Genbu hurl its ax at the Bey that had been given no orders from its Blader and be reigned helpless.  
"Phoenix, no!" Ren cried out all too late as her Bey was struck, an explosion of dust and shattered rock went flying.  
Ren - now in full awareness - heard the pained and mournful cries of her Bey echoing in her ears as she too was sent flying back and out of the stadium, landing on the ground and hitting her head against the cement that made it up.  
Everyone had covered their eyes to shield themselves from falling debris, while Ren's teammates could really care less if it hit them or not.  
"Ren!" Zyro, Shinobu and Takanosuke all called out in unison, hurrying away from their spots at the sidelines along with Eight and Kite to get to their fallen friend.

Ren lay sprawled out on the ground, her senses dull as everything began to come back to reality, the foolishness that she had taken upon herself that had caused her to lose the battle, the shame that she felt from letting herself be so distracted and torn away from what was the most important at the time being, the sound of Phoenix landing beside her with its wings mercilessly torn and ripped from her carelessness, its pained croaks as it had lost its pride to cry into the sky from its loss.  
The debris had not either the blond - thankfully, but the strength to get up had already been drained from her.

"Ren!" The voices of her friends approaching, the pounding of what seemed to be a dozen footsteps coming towards her - the feeling of numbness almost overpowering as she saw the blurred figure of her friends kneel down beside her, more footsteps coming her way which was supposedly the medical team.  
She couldn't walk if she tried, she could barely feel anything. She still heard the aftermath of that voice echoing in her mind, forever staying there in eternal torment in a way to destroy her sanity - and it had almost worked.  
"Ren!" Zyro called out, "Ren, answer me!" Her eyes were the only thing she was really capable of moving, her head feeling heavy yet still with enough strength to twitch it over in Zyro's direction.

"Z-Zyro..." She muttered out, her vision blurry and her consciousness fading in and out.  
"Ren, hang in there.." Shinobu said softly, worrying pooling in his light green eyes as the medical team set down the white stretcher and gently - carefully - loaded her limp and numb body onto it.  
"Ren..." Zyro said desperately, wanting nothing more than to reach and hold her hand, to hold her and comfort her to make sure she was alright. But he knew that it would do nothing for her condition.  
"Z-Zyro..." Ren muttered, her voice shaky and cracking as her senses started to go out of whack.  
"T-the voices won't stop..." She whispered, the tone of her voice just able to reach their ears, "The voices won't stop..!..."

That was all she could say before she finally gave up on clinging to consciousness - the only possible movement that she made was the rising and falling of her chest as she breathed weakly, and was carried away by the Medical Team.  
Everyone was too shocked to even say anything, Tsubasa staring down at the arena as he watched Ren being carried away.  
Everything had become an all out mess in a matter of seconds, and he still had trouble establishing what exactly had been wrong with Ren throughout most of the battle.  
She had more than enough of a chance to win, yet she had still been defeated by something had had been caused most seemingly by her mind. Who had she been talking to? There was no one there.  
"I'm, uh..." Madoka began, swallowing slightly, "I'm gonna go check up on her."

"Yeah, I'll come with you." Hikaru said, hurrying after Madoka along with Maru out of the room, leaving only Benkei and Tsubasa there.  
"What just happened?" Benkei said with shock in his voice, still recovering from seeing Ren in the state that she had been in.  
"I don't know.." Tsubasa replied flatly, "I'll get some people to look in on it, and see what was happening with her.. I just don't know why she started freaking out." Gingka stood where he was, looking down at the arena which had been partially destroyed thanks to Genjuro.  
He - as many of them in turn - had thought that Ren would win the battle, that she would be the one to walk away victorious.  
But that hadn't been so.  
She could've won, if not for the sudden behavior that she had taken on and screaming in the air when nobody was around her.  
It had gotten so bad that she had utterly and completely forgotten that she was Beybattling at all, like she had gone completely blind to the world around her; though maybe that's exactly what happened.  
"It's amusing to you..." He said to nobody, feeling eyes stare into every inch of his soul, "Isn't it?..." With no further words, Gingka left and disappeared into the city once more...

* * *

"She lost..." He said solemnly, a frighteningly calm look on his face as he stared at the screens.  
This could not be so.  
She had had every single chance at winning, and she could've done so in the blink of an eye with one last attack with her Special Move, but something - maybe someone - had interfered with the progress of her battle.

"She **lost**..." He repeated, his voice growing strained as his hands balled into fists at his sides.  
"You said you would eliminate all threats to her losing, and you did, I presume?" He asked, his eyes slowly turning to the woman that stood in the darkness on the other side of the room.  
"I did.." She said in calm defense, "I assured there was nothing that could be a threat to her not winning, I made sure entirely!.."

"And yet she still lost?!" He snapped, a red gleam taking over his as he turned to her, anger almost consuming his being from the rage that boiled inside of him, "Do tell me it was not your intention to have her lose!"  
"I would never dream of disobeying you..." She said softly, a solemn look on her face, "Ren Kurenai began talking to things that weren't really there all of a sudden, and she was too far gone to even remember she was beybattling at that time. There was nothing I was capable of to get her back to her right mind." The man said nothing, glaring at his 'pet' for several moments before turning away.  
"Then I cannot fully blame you, I suppose.." He said gruffly, and sort of undertone in his voice that would've unsettled the woman if she knew right.  
"Fine..." He said calmly, "Go and make sure nothing else happens that could foil our plans.."  
Without a word, she left, and he listened to the sound of her footsteps as they faded and disappeared altogether.

His hands clenched into fists at his sides, his blood boiling under his skin to the point where he could barely handle the flame of anger and rage that was born in the fit of his stomach.  
"Damn you..." He hissed, gritting his teeth while an aura of crimson surrounded his body, like a river of blood that had he had been poured in.  
"Damn you!" In a scream of anger, he threw his arms out to the sides, his golden-brown eyes pulsating and glowing red; the glass of at least 6 of the screens around him shattered, electrical wires falling out with them and crashing onto the floor.  
His breathing was heavy, his glare set on the screen before him as he watched them all with golden-brown eyes that were high lighted with the red that could only be seen as the color of blood.  
"It doesn't matter..." He hissed, "Soon... Yes, _soon_ you will all see..." His voice took upon a demonic undertone, spilling with venom and rage that he always kept to himself through the years. "Soon.." He repeated, "You will see there is nothing you can do... And there is nothing that can stop me!"...

* * *

Zyro, Shinobu, Takanosuke, Eight, and Kite sat beside Ren's bed, looking at her with intent worry as he lay there motionless except for the sound of her breathing. Madoka, Maru, Hikaru, and Sakyo stood behind the other young bladers, their worry growing evermore for the blond that had been defeated not 20 minutes ago.  
"I don't get it..." Hikaru said softly, her blueish-purple eyes set upon the girl, "Everything was going fine until... She started..."  
"Losing her mind..." Sakyo finished for her, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed - granted that they were all teammates he didn't really like to think upon the fact that at some point he would have to show worry and concern and kindness for his friends.  
He sometimes even didn't like to admit that he was friends with them, simply from the pride that he took.  
"Didn't she say something about someone talking to her, Chief?" Maru asked as she looked up towards her mentor, who stood there with worry.  
Madoka simply brushed part of her hair out of her eyes.  
"Yeah, but there wasn't anyone there..." The brunette said, "The only one that could've been talking to her was Genjuro, and if he had been, everyone would've heard it."

"Well, yeah, but she also said something about voices.." Takanosuke explained, turning towards the older woman, "She said 'the voices won't stop'.."  
Hikaru looked down at the light-haired boy, "What voices?" She asked.  
The young bladers simply shrugged. "I hope Ren will be okay.." Madoka said softly, concern on her face as they all watched the sleeping blader.  
They all hoped the same thing.  
Ren had been completely unable to move when they had gotten to her, and she had fallen unconscious when they picked her up and brought her here.  
There was nothing at all that made sense about this.  
Zyro knew it perfectly well that Ren wasn't insane, that she wasn't schizophrenic and never heard voices in her head - yet somehow today had changed his depiction about those possibilities; he would never say that he thought one of his friends was crazy, nor had he ever even thought so. Though maybe that just came with the feeling of something staring into the back of his head, like eyes that came from everywhere and watched their every move.  
And he suddenly realized at that very moment something that he should've realized days ago; maybe that was how Gingka felt when he ran away from them repeatedly and hid.

Maybe he was hiding from something that none of them - not even he himself - could see with their eyes, yet feel and hear with their other senses alone.  
Maybe that was why the Pegasus Blader was acting so strange, maybe he had the same voices in his head that Ren had been hearing throughout her entire battle. But then he thought, no. No, that wasn't possible.  
Yet even with trying to deny it he couldn't push away the feeling that he had in the back of his skull, a shiver slowly making its way down his spine in an eerie way that made him want to scream from pure terror. But how silly would that be, to act like that around his friends; especially when he should be more worried about Ren.  
"I'll go see if I can find anything out with the Director." Hikaru said, earning a simple nod from Madoka and allowing her to leave. Hikaru did so, leaving the room and leaving the number of people in there minus one.  
They all hoped that there could be some reasonable explanation behind it, that they could get the answers of what had happened to went not even a half hour ago - why she had been freaking out so badly and what she had heard.  
But they wouldn't find anything, they wouldn't hear anything.

And no matter how hard anyone tried to listen, the cry of the Phoenix had faded into nothing.


	10. Chapter 9 - Watchful Eyes

Chapter 9 - Watchful Eyes

* * *

"And so, its all come down to this.. A battle of trust and betrayal, that may sever bonds created between two allies who have long since abandoned each other.. Together in a battle that will be known throughout time... Between Gingka Hagane and Zyro Kurogane... For at long last it will determine who gets..!... The last POP TART!"

Both Gingka and Zyro looked down the table at Maru as they sat across from each other, the pastry that was known as a Pop Tart sitting warm on a snow white plate that Madoka would later have to wash.  
The pinkette looked back and forth from one blader to another.  
"What?" She asked, "I'm just setting the tension."  
Both the redhead and the ginger-ravenette glanced at each and shrugged before fixating their gazes back on the last remaining pop tart in between them.  
Maru watched them intently as the two bladers did a practical stare down for the pop tart, the fire between them almost visible as if they were telepathically arguing between each other on who would get the pastry.  
There were many moments of silence before the redheaded blader finally spoke to break the tension between them.

"You wanna split it?" He asked, his voice echoing slightly as he stared across the short distance of the table at Zyro.

"Sure." Zyro agreed, letting Gingka reach out and split the Pop Tart perfectly in half.  
When he gave Zyro the other half, the younger blader took small bites with a content look on his face. Gingka was the same way, only he hid his more as if he was suspicious that Zyro may steal it.  
"Seriously?" Madoka said as she raised an eyebrow, standing in one of the 2 archways into the kitchen, "You can't even eat a pastry without having a stare down of who gets it?"  
Gingka took another small bite of his half of the pop tart before looking at Madoka.  
"They're called Pop Tarts." He said, "And you know you would fight over one too."  
The brunette rolled her eyes, sighing at the idiotic redhead that she had always known through most of her life - or at least half of it.  
"I swear, not even _I_ know how you saved the world a few times.." She said, "You're such an idiot."  
"Ah, I may be an idiot." Gingka said as he leaned back in his chair, taking another bite from his half-eaten half-pop tart, "But I'm not stupid.."  
Maru giggled at the Pegasus Blader as Madoka simply sighed, shaking her head.

"Oh, also." Gingka said, sitting upright in his chair and looking over at Zyro who had already finished his half of the pop tart.  
"How's Ren been doing?" Gingka asked, a concerned tone in his voice, "I saw what happened yesterday at the arena.."  
Zyro looked at the redhead for a moment before looking down at the table, scratching the edge of it gently with his index fingernail.  
"They took her to the hospital yesterday, and she's woken up.." The Fire Blader explained, "And now she doesn't even seem to remember what happened... I'm planning on going to see her later. Do you wanna come?"  
Golden-brown eyes softened as he smiled at the younger one.

"Yeah, I'll come over for a bit to visit your girlfriend."

"W-WHAT?!" Zyro exclaimed, falling sideways off of his chair at the redhead's statement. Both Maru and Madoka couldn't help but laugh as Zyro scrambled to get up off the floor and back into the chair he had been sitting him, which had almost fallen over with him.  
Gingka snickered a bit at Zyro's reaction, a hand near his mouth just in case he started coughing again.  
"Zyro, I'm kidding." He said with a laugh, and watched as the younger blader got up from off the floor and plopped down into his chair, his entire face as red as Gingka's hair was as he crossed his arms and simply pouted.  
How oh so innocent Zyro was...

* * *

"Oh come on!" Ren complained as she currently sat up in her hospital bed, "I'm fine, honest! Do I _really_ have to stay in the hospital over what happened yesterday?"  
The blond's friends looked at her intently, listening as she complained over and over again that she was completely fine.  
In all honesty, she did look and seem fine, but with absolutely no memory of what really happened the day before when she had ended up here.  
"You have to stay until all of your tests check out, Ren." Madoka explained, placing both of her hands on her hips, "Doctors orders."  
"But I'm fine, honestly!" Ren retorted, "Gingka, tell her!" The redhead stiffened as their eyes all turned to him, Madoka's holding him with a firm gaze that made a shiver go up his spine.

"Ren, why would you do this, you know she scares me!" He blurted out in response to the blond, the entire room falling silent after the sudden outburst.  
It was only a few moments until the laughter started, save for Gingka who cowered slightly under Madoka's angry eyes.  
Of course they were friends, and he cared about her a lot - but she did honestly scare him a bit.  
"Well then, Mr. Hagane.." Madoka said with an icy tone in her voice, "You wanna put that fear to the test?"  
All in one second did Gingka make the most girlish squeal they had ever thought they were hear from the Legendary Blader himself, and watched as he scurried past Madoka and out of the room. All of them sat there for a moment in silence, their eyes wide at Gingka's sudden actions that they didn't think he would ever do - but that was when the laughter from everybody started, even Madoka!  
" _He's_ the one who saved the world from Nemesis?" Ren asked Madoka and Benkei through her giggles.  
"A-apparently!" Madoka answered through her laughter as well. All of them waited for their laughter to die down before they could finally get back to talking, though the chuckles kept making their ways up from everyone's throats at the very recent memory of Gingka running out of the room.

"So, Ren.." Madoka began, just to break the awkwardness between them all, "You really don't remember anything from yesterday?"  
Ren looked at the brunette for a moment before looked away and down at her hands which rested in her lap, the tag that showed she was a patient within the building still on her wrist.  
"No.." The blond said softly, "I remember battling Genjuro, and I was gonna attack him again, but then I..."  
Ren stopped talking for a moment, as if trying to recall everything that had happened yesterday.  
"I heard.. A voice." She said, "And I can't remember what it said, and I didn't recognize it, but..." They all listened intently, trying not to look at her as if she were some crazy woman - they knew that would upset her if they did.  
"It was the only thing I could focus on.." Ren continued, "And I.. Forgot where I was, I was just trying to look for it... I even forgot that I was Beybattling, and I couldn't hear Phoenix's cries, and..."  
Brown eyes wandered over to her bedside table, the renewed Phoenix laying there in the silence that she had heard the day before.  
She had been too blind to hear Phoenix's cries, to hear her Bey's plea to help - what kind of Blader was she?

"It was like someone wanted me to lose the battle.." She said, looking back towards her friends, "I could've won if that hadn't happened... Sorry if I let you guys down."  
"Hey, it wasn't your fault." Benkei said with apologetic smile, scratching the back of his head. "Well if any of us heard voices, we'd probably freak out too..." Shinobu said in sympathy, "Kind of like Gingka back there."  
More laughs came from them all.  
"Yeah, and he still hasn't come back.." Madoka said as she looked towards the door, "Probably got himself lost while saying hello to some newborn babies."  
"I'll go look for him if you want." Maru suggested, looking up at her teacher.  
"Well..." Madoka began, speculating the subject for a moment, "Okay.. Just don't get lost." With a smile, Maru did a small salute.  
"Don't worry, Chief!" She said, "I'll be back in a flash!" Maru, as true to her words, left the room in search of the redhead that had run out not a few minutes ago.  
Maru could find a lot of things, and Madoka knew that finding people wasn't that hard for her - she would definitely be able to find Gingka in a single building...

* * *

Maru made her way through the halls, smiling at a few nurses and doctors - and occasional patients - as she walked by, searching for the Legendary Blader that she knew had to be somewhere around here.  
Besides, the only reason that she had particularly offered to look for him is because she did have to 'keep an eye on him' - that was what 'he' wanted, after all, and she would do so.  
Now if only she knew where he was. She searched all over the hospital, sometimes peaking into rooms just to see if he was there or not - she found nothing.  
Eventually she came to the final ward she hadn't checked, which was one that lacked a lot of nurses and doctors, yet as the rest of the hospital it was stark white and 'clean as a baby's bottom' so she believed the saying went. Or it was soft, but either way.  
Maru decided not to take her time on deciding whether or not to search here, but her mind was quickly made up as she knew that the redhead was either here or he had left the hospital entirely; it was worth a shot.  
Her footsteps made the sound equal to thunder in the silence, holding her laptop under her arm as she walked down the ward and looked both ways into rooms for any sign of the Legendary Blader. Then she caught a faint sound, that she could barely hear and had to strain to her ears in order to do so - it was faint, but there was a sound.

It sounded like... Whimpering.  
The pinkette tip-toed down the hallway, making as little noise as possible as she tried to follow the noise from where it was coming from.  
So far she proved successful as she looked up towards a room shrouded in darkness, which the door slightly ajar that just allowed a bit of sound to creep through.  
The whimpering was a bit louder here, and from what she could tell and from the small figure of shadows she could see, Gingka was there - he was the only one there. Carefully did she make her way towards the door, creeping up the side of the wall and peering in through the crack in the door to see Gingka sitting down, almost in a fetal position if he had been laying on his side on the ground.  
The redhead whimpered, pulling gently on the fabric of his scarf that covered his neck and trying his best to muffle his pain; needless to say, it wasn't working that well.  
Tears formed in droplets at his eyelashes, his short and seemingly manicured nails scratching at his arms from the burning sensation in them - the scratching dimmed it only slightly, since it gave him some other, more minor sense of pain, to focus on instead of the searing feeling of almost being burned alive.  
Maru watched him as the process continued, observing his movements and his whimpers of pain that tore her heart into pieces.  
She felt bad for him, more than bad, but she couldn't do anything than just watch. Gingka didn't care what happened, what fate took him or who wanted to help him at all - he just wanted the pain to stop.

The redhead shakily reached up to where his sleeves were rolled up too, doing to his best to slowly roll them down to cover his arms.  
He wouldn't be able to imagine what Zyro's face would be if he say him in this condition - the sight would not be pretty for any of them, including Madoka.  
Oh god, why did it have to be here? Why did it have to be so painful? Why couldn't the pain just stop?  
More tiny whimpers escaped his lips, his teeth biting down on his lower one to try and muffle them as the searing pain in his arms and around his neck continued. He wanted to scream. But he couldn't.  
Maru looked away from the sight of the redhead, flattening herself against the wall and sinking down to the floor without making noise. That was one of the most horrifying things she had ever seen, to see someone in that much pain.  
She had wanted to help him, and badly - but she knew that she couldn't...

* * *

He stood there and watched, watched them all with hate-filled eyes that had existed as long as another's.  
It was the one thing that made him feel better, the one thing that gave him life more than anything - and he enjoyed how slow the process worked, torturing someone physically and internally, able to feel every bit of the pain that it caused them. It was sick, it was disgusting, but he didn't care.  
He enjoyed it, it had always brought joy to the bottom of his soul where he could still feel that pitiful child clinging on.  
But he let him, just to feel a bit of humanity down in the darkest parts of his heart that barely even existed.

His 'pet' was right.

A part of him did care about 'his' suffering.  
He himself did not care in the slightest bit how far he had to go to achieve the goals that he had - but the 'child' still cared.  
Multiple times had he tried to drown him, slit his throat and watch him bleed out on the floor while desperately trying to call out to...

But he didn't.

Because he still needed him in order to exist, in order to live.  
The 'himself' that he was was simply another being with a body that looked just like him, while the more pitiful and pure one cowered in the corner while being forced to watch the monstrosities that he was responsible in creating.  
It was complicated to anyone else, but to him it was as clear as crystal. They were all simply puppets on strings, moving exactly the way he wanted them too except for the fact that the strings were able to tangle themselves to his annoyance - they were all pawns, nothing more. All really cared about - if he even really cared about anything - was _him_..

Perhaps he would - no, he will - get him back after so many years of separation, of loss.  
It was something that he had a desire for, an intense lust that he fiddled with every now and then; yet it pleasured his corrupted soul so tenderly that he could break out into a fit of giggles.  
It was no laughing matter to him - he wanted to watch them suffer. To suffer, and see their pain. The pain that he himself had endured throughout a lifetime...

* * *

"Hey, sorry I wasn't here sooner." Came Hikaru's voice as she entered Ren's hospital room, a small bouquet of yellow roses in her arms.  
"Oh, hi Hikaru." Madoka greeted as the bluenette walked in, watching as she placed the small roses on the table beside Ren's bed.  
Ren gave her a grateful, yet weird look.  
"Um.. Thanks.." She said awkwardly, "But I'm not dying, ya know." Hikaru simply smiled. "I know that." She said, "But yellow roses symbolize Friendship, so I got you some."

"Where'd you find that out?" Madoka asked as she raised an eyebrow, placing her hands on her hips.

"I saw it on a chart once, when I was looking up 'how to grow hydrangeas'." Hikaru exclaimed, "Because you _really_ don't wanna mess up the mood."  
Madoka was about to respond before they heard the door open again, this time having Maru walk in with her laptop in hand - only no one was with him.  
"Sorry, Chief.." Maru said apologetically, "I couldn't find him anywhere."  
"Well, don't worry about it." Madoka said, petting Maru's soft, pink curls, "I'm sure he'll turn up some time or another." Maru simply smiled and nodded, going over and plopping down on one of the chairs in the room, then opening to laptop.  
"You should've seen what happened earlier, Hikaru." Madoka said with a small giggle, earning chuckles from the younger bladers at the memory, "He ran out of here screaming like a girl after I got mad at him." Hikaru sweat-dropped with an awkward smile.

"Well, if I know him as well as I think I do, that's Gingka for you." She said. All of them had to agree that Gingka was probably the biggest dork on the face of the planet, aside from Zyro of course, but there was just something not right about it.  
Maybe Zyro had been the only one to notice it, but Gingka had been disappearing constantly for the past few days - he would cough multiple times before just leaving and not showing up again for a matter of hours or days, he would even leave without telling them what was going on or where he was going - and Zyro knew something wasn't right about it.  
Gingka Hagane had been described as a very open person, someone who spoke with only honesty and his heart - but from the recent actions that he had seen from the redhead in question, he wasn't entirely so sure that what they knew about him was true...

* * *

Gingka breathed hard, slowly making his way through the mazes of alleyways while slumped over against the walls.  
His breathing came out in gasps, the wheezing not stopping and making it sound like it was hard for him to breathe - he would admit that it wasn't easy to at this moment.  
Swallowing was hard as well as he tried his best to make his way through the alleyways, so that he wouldn't be seen by anybody in this state.

But there was always someone.

Small whimpers escaped his lips, and he didn't care - all he wanted was for this suffering to stop.  
His legs couldn't much more movement, and he was eventually lead to a stop by them and forced to lean against the wall.  
Slowly did he slide down to the ground, his entire body aching from the pain that he had experienced from earlier.  
Another small whimper escaped his lips, a groan mixed in with it for a sound that didn't entirely sound remotely human - not that anyone would be able to tell. His breathing was frantic, feeling clogged up around the area where his chest and neck met each other and unable to clear it no matter how hard he tried.  
He tried to fight the darkness that fought to consume his mind, to resist the temptation to sleep and succumb to the darkness - he tried to fight it with everything that he had to stay awake just a little longer, but he was unable to.  
Another whimper escaped his delicate looking frame, a frailness about him that had never really existed but in his childhood.

Don't fall asleep.

Don't fall asleep.

Don't fall asleep.

Don't...

Don't...

* * *

 _"What are you talking about?..." A soft voice... "What do you mean that..."_

 **"You said he was asleep!.." "He was..."**

 _"What are you doing?!... Let me go!..."_

 **"I'm sorry..." A familiar voice... "But you can't know... You can't!..."**

 _"Stop it!... What are you doing?!..."_

 **"Precious child... There is so much you can't remember..." A scream...**

* * *

Tears fell from his eyes as he slept, blinded by visions of something that couldn't be his own memory, that he was seeing from someone else's eyes.  
But that coudln't be it, he couldn't be seeing something that he remembered. It was something else, something else that had happened to another. But exactly who wanted him to see this.  
"Stop..." He whimpered from his dreams, his pale face being stained with tears that he was unaware that he was shedding.  
A gasp escaped him, his will forcing himself awake as the tears fell from his golden-brown eyes. What was that? What had he just seen, just experienced? What had he just dreamed, just... Remembered?  
 _"Oh god.."_ He thought to himself, _"Oh god..."_  
Gingka couldn't stop the tears from falling, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much his will told him not to.

Don't cry..

Don't cry..

Don't cry..

Just cry it out.  
Don't even hold it back.

If you cry now, it'll hurt less later, right?..

Maybe for him it would... But not for Zyro.

"Zyro..." He whimpered out, tears rolling down his cheeks as he felt the eyes staring at him, from closer than he could imagine with a rage that filled their being with hate.  
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.." With the disgust in his stomach, with that dream still fresh in his mind, Gingka shifted his position and vomited onto the ground...

* * *

Night had soon come to Metal Bey City, and Ren was strictly told that she had to stay in the hospital for at least 1 more night before she was allowed to be released - the blond had, of course, objected to this but had no other choice but to obey doctor's orders.  
It wasn't like anyone really needed to check up on her, even with a skeleton crew of roughly 5 nurses and 3 doctors - she had merely fallen unconscious the day before and received a minor concussion which was now gone, so it wasn't anything that they had to worry about.  
As much as she hated sleeping on her back, she was told to and did so, laying flat as she breathed softly in her sleep with her arms on top of the blankets.  
Sleeping with her back arched in the slightest bit from the position of the bed was not comfortable, but she did manage to put up with it - at least for one more night. The lights in her room had been shut off, and it remained dark except for the beautiful lights of the city that came in through her window; the view wasn't too bad, so she had to admit.  
The nurses had managed to get her to sleep, knowing that she would otherwise be complaining - they wouldn't admit that they had slip a small sleeping drug into her juice so that she would be able to fall asleep easier than the night before; it wasn't harmful, which was one of the reasons why they decided to.

At least it worked.

Her breathing was soft, her mind plagued by dreams that made up a world of her own that she could control, her eyelids fluttering lightly with something almost sticking her eyelids together to keep her eyes shut.  
It was a serene feeling that she may not have felt in a long time, especially with the fact that she didn't get much sleep a lot of nights since she was always up late.  
She slept soundly, more deeply than she ever had in a long time with no sound able to reach her ears; nothing was able to pull her out of it until she would wake up.

Which is why, as he looked at her, was the perfect time to visit.  
"You.." He said in a voice filled with malice, with hate, yet so gently it was simply a whisper that could barely reach her ears.  
His dark blue bangs hug around his eyes, looking down at the blond that had lost her battle in the BTF tournament the previous day.  
"What was it?.." He asked, knowing that she would not answer him, "What caused you to lose the battle that you should've won?..."  
Eyes of an unknown colored stared down into a peaceful face, watching as her eyelashes twitched every now and then along with her eyelids.

"You are less powerful.. But you should've won... You _would've_ if not for..." His voice stopped again, looking at her in silence with just the itching feeling to grab hold and... No. He would save those thoughts for later, for when he could finally do so. But right now, it was too easy, far too easy.  
A small chuckle escaped his lips, almost coming out in a child-like giggle that would belong to the smallest of children.

"You've cost me a great deal Ren Kurenai.." With a movement that she wouldn't feel, he reached up and slowly trailed his fingertips across her cheek, "And for it, I would make you pay a great deal, but..."  
In a swift movement did he pull his fingers away, his nails just grazing the surface of her skin in an eerie manner.  
Ren shifted in her sleep, a soft groan escaping her at the small disturbance.  
"You won't pay _just yet_.." His voice was almost sweet, a shadow of the one that had previously existed in control of the body that he had - that boy was still there, and he hated him.  
"But soon.. Very soon you will _all_ pay... But not with _something_ , oh no.."  
He heard footsteps out in the hallway, frequently coming closer and closer until it sounded like they were just outside the door.  
It didn't matter to him, because to him there was nothing - nothing could stop him.

" _Someone_..."

The door handle turned, and it slowly creaked open, breaking the silence that had previously inhabited Ren's hospital room.  
One of the nurses stepped inside, looking around in confusion at the feeling of something being rather 'off' - she had sworn she had heard a voice, a male voice from within; there was no one. The nurse sighed, rubbing her temple gently.  
"I really must be getting old..." She said tiredly, fighting to keep herself awake for the rest of the Graveyard shift she had to work.  
In silence did she make her way over to Ren, checking the girl's medical and physical status one last time before the end of the night. She herself didn't really see the great importance of it - Ren was absolutely fine.  
Her injuries hadn't been anything serious, but she did suppose that it was good to check up on just to make sure.  
"Well, just one more night, Ren..." The nurse said softly, looking up to the blond who was still sleeping, "Then you're home free... Wait.."

With gentle, yet slightly wrinkled hands did the nurse reach out and touch Ren's right cheek, gently moving her head over in her direction so that she was able to see better.  
There, on the fair skin of her cheek was a small scratch that just barely grazed the skin, though still leaving a small mark while the area around it illuminated red.  
"Now how did you get that?.." The nurse asked no one, examining said scratch carefully and trying not to wake the blond up.  
No one had been in the room all day except for Ren's friends and a few other nurses, and they hadn't remembered seeing a scratch on her cheek when she was delivered to the hospital the day before.  
"Hmm.." The nurse hummed, before simply shaking her head and pushing off the subject.  
"Well, goodnight dear.." She whispered to Ren, who she knew would very dimly be able to hear her. The nurse, with no second thoughts on the matter, left the room and shut the door behind her. But there he stood. On the opposite side of her bed.

With the last light of the doorway faintly reflecting on blue-purple eyes.


	11. Chapter 10 - What's Happening To You

Chapter 10 - What's Happening To You

* * *

Zyro knew deep down that he shouldn't say anything, that he should just keep quiet and not worry Madoka any more than he had been meaning to.  
But he knew that he needed to tell her, that he needed to tell _someone_ so that he could find out exactly what was happening with Gingka that caused his actions and behavior lately. Madoka obviously wouldn't be able to answer that question, not by a long shot - but he knew that it may be best to follow his friends' advice and at least let her know.

The ginger-ravenette entered the B-Pit with the bell ringing, looking towards Madoka who was behind the counter, washing off a supposed picture from from with a cloth that looked like it had seen better days.  
The brunette threw the younger blader a quick glance, smiling for a moment before going back to cleaning said picture frame.  
"Hi Zyro." She greeted, squinting her eyes a bit and increasing the pressure on where she was rubbing to clean it better.  
"Hey, Madoka.." Zyro replied, coming up to the counter and looking at the brunette, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"  
The maroon-haired woman looked over at him in curiosity, before setting down both the picture and the cloth, placing her hands on the counter.

"Sure." She said, "Talk to me."  
Butterflies floated in Zyro's stomach, a feeling that made his heart beat faster than it ever had and almost made him fall to his knees.  
"Um.." He started off awkwardly, trying not to look away or retreat. "Well.. How has Gingka been to you lately?.. Like, the way he's been acting and stuff.."  
Madoka raised an eyebrow, shrugging her shoulders lightly with confusion. "Well, he's seemed normal to me." She said, "Why?"  
Neither of them heard the small footsteps coming down the stairs, nor saw it as Maru sat down on one of them just out of their line of sight.  
As quiet as a mouse did she open her laptop, straining her ears silently as she listened intently and pressed the 'record' button on the screen.  
Zyro took a deep breath, looking up towards the Mechanic that had owned the B-Pit for several years now.

"Madoka.." Zyro said firmly, the usual tone in his voice having gone and replaced with something that Madoka had rarely heard from the boy, "I think something's really wrong with Gingka."

Maru narrowed her eyes, almost at the same time that Madoka's stature changed from leaning on the counter to standing upright with a concerned look.  
"What you do mean?.." Madoka asked, "I know he isn't feeling well, but.. What do you mean something's wrong with him?"

"Well, he's been acting rather..." Zyro looked down, unsure of how to put the statement and just went with what came first, "Strange.."

"Strange how?" Madoka asked, looking at the younger blader intently and a now growig concern pooling in the pit of her stomach.  
"I-I know he keeps saying he's sick, and he's coughing quite a bit..." Zyro explained, "But something just seems.. Off about it. Like there's something that he's not saying." He didn't need to tell Madoka what Gingka had said to him the day of his battle before it started, this would concern her enough as it was.  
"Off how?" Madoka asked, concern growing in her with the need to know more.

"Sometimes when he coughs, it gets really bad." Zyro explained, "And then he always leaves right afterwords.. Like, he's been disappearing every now and then for awhile, and I don't know why... Like yesterday, he never came back here."  
Madoka's eyes widened at that statement, suddenly cluing into the fact that Gingka had - indeed - been disappearing lately.  
Though she had just simply known that as part of his nature to be adventurous, and he would wander off at certain times... But she hadn't thought of this.  
"And his behavior been a bit off to every now and then." Zyro continued, "But besides that, he's been pretty okay... I'm just thought that I should tell you, so that one of you could know." Madoka stared at the Fire Blader for a moment, tryig to calculate all that he had just explained to her.

"O-okay.." She stuttered out, "I'll keep that in mind. I'll see if I can talk him into spilling it the next time I see him."  
"Okay.." Zyro said quietly, looking at Madoka one last time before heading to the door and leaving the B-Pit.  
Madoka was left in silence for what felt like an eternity, emotions now flooding her brain of which she had not expected to have that day.  
The brunette leaned against the counter again, pulling herself together and tapping her fingers on the wooden surface.  
 _"Gingka.."_ She thought to herself, _"What could be wrong with him?"_ With nothing left to eavesdrop on, Maru headed back up the stairs with her laptop in her hands, the newly captured audio saved onto her computer for her and for her only - Madoka didn't hear her.

Gingka stood on the top of one of the buildings, a pained expression on his face as he had his fingertips pressed to his forehead as a small headache wracked his brain in silent agony.  
Small sighs and grunts made their way from him, as if holding his breath and stopping every few moments to release it and breathe in again just to hold it.  
His sleeves were down now compared to being rolled up to his elbows, despite the heat from the coming summer that would have most people in the coolest yet less revealing clothing that they could wear; he - however - was rather cold, almost like having ice cubes injected into his blood stream and left to freeze all over again.  
In the heat, he was cold, and in the cold he was even colder.

 _"You'll understand, Zyro..."_ He thought to himself, the words echoing in his throbbing and almost empty mind like a canyon, _"I promise you will... Just please.. Understand soon.."_  
He didn't have many selfish thoughts, and he hoped that that was one of the last of them.  
Yet even from the great height that he stood, Zyro was the only one who noticed him standing near the edge of the building, just catching the shredded ends of his snow white scarf in the light of the sun.  
 _"What's wrong with you?.."_ He thought to himself, the concern and worry that overwhelmed his soul almost becoming unbearable. Maybe there _was_ something seriously wrong with Gingka...

* * *

"So you finally told her?" Shinobu asked as they all faced Zyro with interest, sitting in the middle of the Bey Park with each other.  
"Yeah, but.." Zyro began, "I don't know if it was the right thing to do.. Like, I might just be overreacting or something..."

"I wouldn't say that so soon, Zyro." Ren said, placing her hands on her hips - she had gotten out of the hospital earlier that day, and they had come to get her.  
She definitely seemed okay now.  
"I mean, your goin' with your gut on this one, aren't you?" The blond questioned, raising an eyebrow at her friend.  
"Well yeah, I am.." Zyro said in a slightly subdued voice, scratching the back of his head lightly.  
"Then go with it." The blond said, "Besides, ya gotta figure out what he meant with those words, right?" That was right.  
He had told his friends right after Gingka had said anything to him, maybe to calm himself down from the shock of Claustrophobia that he had.  
Though he didn't dare admit that fear to any of his friends, save for Gingka that had already known.

"Yeah, I guess so." He said solemnly, averting his blue eyes away from Ren's brown ones.  
"And we've been noticing it too, Zyro." Kite informed him, "Especially with what happened yesterday and the day before. Yesterday he ran out of the room, and I don't think you were the only one who thought it was weird that he hadn't come back."  
"Then there's the day before," Shinobu said, his green eyes focusing on his black-and-ginger-haired, "I get the coughing and stuff, but I don't think anyone who has the common cold would almost lose balance because of it.."  
Eight looked up to the dirty-blond with his deep green eyes.  
"That happened to me once, but I had the flu.." The bluenette stated.

"Exactly." Shinobu said, using Eight's statement as an example, "If we can do anything to help you find out what he's not telling us, just give us the word." Zyro looked around at the 4 of his friends that stood around him, a smile creeping onto his face out of gratitude.  
"Thanks guys.." He said with a sigh of relief, "But Gingka said that I needed to figure out what he meant on my own... I doubt that he'd ever tell me."  
"And that - of course - would depend on whether you could actually _find_ him or not." Ren said as she crossed her arms, scratching her left cheek from a small itch.  
"Well, I _did_ see him on top of a building when I was leaving the B-Pit.." Zyro noted, "But he'd gone before we'd get the chance to get on top of one of those."  
"How does one even _get_ on top one of those?" Kite said in a 'I-ask-the-real-questions' way, looking towards the skyscrapers that made up the near entirety of Metal Bey City with his glasses reflecting off the sun.  
"And most of them are at least 10 stories high." Eight noted, looking up along with his big brother and trying to block out the sun with one of his hands.  
"At this point, he could anywhere." Zyro said, a sickening feeling pooling in the bottom of his abdomen, like something terrible was about to happen and he didn't know what.  
He just hoped that he was wrong about what he was beginning to suspect...

* * *

The bell to the door of the B-Pit rang as somewhere entered, drawing Madoka's attention away from cleaning the counter towards the door in a snap.  
"Hello-" Her sentence immediately stopped when she saw who was at the door. A small smile was given from the redhead that stood there, the light coming to his golden-brown eyes that... Didn't seem to hold that same glow anymore - maybe this was the first time Madoka had noticed.  
"Hey Madoka.." Gingka greeted in a slightly subdued voice, as if he had a sore throat of some sort.  
"Um, hi, Gingka.." Madoka said awkwardly, rubbing her arm slightly - how exactly was she supposed to talk to Gingka now that she knew something may be wrong with him.  
"Where did you go yesterday?" The brunette asked, trying to break the awkwardness between them. "Well, after I ran out I remembered something I had to do." The redhead explained, "I _would've_ told you, but I was kind of scared to go back in, so..." Madoka chuckled softly, remembering yesterday very well.  
"Yeah, I guess I can understand that." She said with a smile, "I'd be pretty freaked out too if I was in your shoes." Gingka chuckled, nervously at the fact of which he greatly tried to hide.

"Um, Gingka.." Madoka said, her smile fading from her face as she looked up at the Legendary Blader.  
"Yeah?" He asked with curiosity, looking towards her with golden-brown eyes that had faded in the glow they once had.  
"Umm.." Madoka hummed softly, trying to find the words. "Well, I talked to Zyro earlier, and... He told me something that concerns you.."  
Gingka's smile faded, looking at his friend with a confused look. If they really were confused, that was.  
"He said something about how you've been acting lately." Madoka went on, watching the redhead carefully, "He says that there's something you might not be saying about how you are and your health.. Is that true?"  
A silence passed between the two for a moment, and Gingka managed to keep a solemn expression as she said this - though his feelings inside were different. The redhead smiled softly, tilting his head a bit with a reassuring look.  
"Madoka, its okay." He said, "I'm fine, don't worry."  
A concerned look made its way onto Madoka's face - somehow, she just couldn't buy those words as anything more than a mask.

"Are you sure?" She said, coming out from behind the counter and trying to face the Pegasus Blader, who wasn't too intent on doing the same.  
"Gingka, you know you can tell me if your not okay. We're friends, remember." The smile upon Gingka's face became more of a saddened one, his body half-turned away from her.  
"I'm okay, Madoka, honest." He said with that same reassuring tone, "You don't have to worry."  
He was about to turn away, before Madoka reached out to place her hand on his shoulder.

"Gingka, I-" She never got to finish her sentence.  
The moment her fingers touched his clothing just enough to feel his skin underneath, Gingka whipped around and slapped her hand away, a look of anger replacing the kind and sad one that had been there previously.  
"I said I'm fine, alright?!"  
Madoka stood there shocked, her hand suspended in mid-air at his tone of voice - Gingka had never yelled at her like that, to any one of his friends really.  
She stood there, looking into the rage-filled eyes that burned with the flame of his soul as Zyro's often did, unable to move as she was afraid that he may do something else. What was this?... She had never been afraid of Gingka before...  
Not since that one time when she witnessed him first face Ryuga.

Slowly did Gingka's eyes widen, the features on his face softening as he realized what he had just did. What he had just said.  
Neither of them said anything, Madoka frozen where she was while Gingka backed away a few steps, as if afraid that he might hit her again, and harder.  
"I... I..." Gingka was unable to form words as he stared into Madoka's fear-filled eyes, his own mimicking that fear with a genuine darkening.  
The redhead averted his eyes, the bangs that hung over his headband covering part of his face in shame.  
"I-I'm sorry..." He managed to stutter out, his voice shaky and breaking as if he were about to cry, "I-I should go..."  
Before Madoka was able to respond, Gingka had hurried out the door and down the sidewalk, disappearing from her sight altogether. Still, she stood there, tears in her eyes.  
"Gingka..." She whispered, a single tear making its way from the edges of her eyelashes and down her cheek, staining pale skin, "What's happening to you?.."...

* * *

The ex-DNA Bladers had remained planted in their waiting room at the Bey Arena, having not have many places to go since the incident at DNA headquarters.  
"I hear you sent Ren Kurenai to the hospital, Genjuro.." Kira reflected as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed as he looked across the room to said blond, who was sitting on the bed silently.  
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure most people heard..." Genjuro said solemnly, chewing on the dandelion in his mouth.  
"Well then, I'm sure everyone heard about her behavior the other day..." Kira said solemnly. It had been a wonder why Kira had not spoke to him about this before, on the day that he had actually beaten Ren - all he had done was give him a glance before walking away.  
"What happened exactly?" Kira asked out of curiosity, looking towards his teammate in slight interest, "What did you do that caused her to act that way?"  
Genjuro's blue eyes made their way up to his leader.  
"I didn't do anything." He answered, "All I did was battle her until she started talking to something that wasn't there."

"Is that so?" Kira questioned.

"I'll admit it though.." Genjuro said, "I would've lost if that hadn't happened... So I guess none of us can really complain."  
Kira smirked at the stone blader, his one eye closing. "That's true.." The silverette said with amusement, "Though I am gravely curious on how it happened in the first place... Someone who had the best chance at winning suddenly losing her mind in front of hundreds of people, is something that I find very interesting."  
Genjuro said nothing, looking at is leader from across the room.  
"But now, Ren Kurenai is fine, as I hear.." Kira continued on, "Yet it explains nothing of what happened.."  
Kira solemnly stood upright from leaning against the wall, his spiked silver and tri-colored hair flowing along with his movements. "And be sure not to disappoint me on whoever you face next in the tournament.." Kira said, eyeing Genjuro with his one gold eye, "Am I clear on that?.."

"Yes, master Kira..." Genjuro said as he chewed on his dandelion.  
The only response he got was a small smirk from Kira before said Blader left the room. All the blond did was grunt and cross his arms, closing his eyes as he occupied himself on chewing the stem of the flower.  
He was the one of many who didn't think that Kira would be interested or concerned about something that had happened to one of the WBBA Bladers - least of all one of Zyro's friends.  
But he himself did have to admit that most people were probably concerned about what had happened two days ago, about what had caused Ren to freak out so badly that she ultimately forgot she was in a battle at all.  
It had had its advantages for him, but even so... What had happened to Ren exactly? And who had she been talking too?...

* * *

"So Ren's finally out of the hospital, huh?" Tsubasa asked as he walked alongside Hikaru through the halls of the WBBA, as she come to tell him about the newest preparations for the next battle - as it would, of course, not take as long to prepare as the previous one had.  
"Yeah, she was released today." Hikaru said, looking over at her boss, "Though I didn't really the reason for her to be there another day either. She was doing okay yesterday.." Tsubasa chuckled softly.  
"Yeah, but I don't the doctors might've kept her there for more than just her physical health.." He said, "I know we were all concerned about what happened to her the day before..." Hikaru looked away from the Director, looking towards the floor as they walked.  
"Yeah, I'd probably keep her in if something might be wrong with her mental health, too." The bluenette admitted, "But at least she's okay now. That sure was weird about what happened.."

"Tell me about it..." Tsubasa said, looking up towards the ceiling slightly, "You weren't able to find anything around her that caused her to act that way?"  
Hikaru shook her head sadly. "No... Me, Sichiro, and Ayano tried to find an explanation for _hours_ and we turned up with nothing... I just don't understand who or what could've caused Ren to act that way."

"Hopefully the next battle won't end that way..." Tsubasa said with a sigh,

"The last thing we need is for Sakyo, Takanosuke, Eight or Shinobu freaking out and start talking to the air." Hikaru giggled at the Director's comment, bringing a hand up to her mouth so that she wouldn't burst out laughing - which she almost did.  
"Well, we can only hope Director." The bluenette said through her chuckles, "By the way.. Did you see Gingka yesterday?"  
"No, why?"  
"Well, he apparently ran out of the hospital room after saying that Madoka sometimes scares him." Hikaru explained, "He was the gone by the time I got there, and Maru wasn't able to find him... I assumed he just left, so I was wondering if you saw him."  
Tsubasa shook his head, looking into her blueish-purple eyes.

"I haven't seen him in awhile, Hikaru." The silverette explained, "And I definitely didn't see him yesterday. So I wouldn't know where he went.."  
"Huh..." Blueish-purple eyes looked forward in the direction they were heading, "Well, I bet Madoka's probably seen him lately. But I wouldn't know."

"Director!"

Both of the old friends stopped at the voice, turning around to see one of the Co-Workers hurrying towards them.  
"What is it?" Tsubasa asked, looking at the man who had come to alert him of something.  
"There is a message in your office." The man said, "Its your friend, Madoka Amano. She wanted to speak to you."  
The two of them took no time in hurrying to Tsubasa's office, as he knew that Madoka only really called him for more important matters that usually consisted of the tournament. But this time he would be wrong.  
The two both entered through the sliding doors, seeing Madoka's face upon the screen as she waited silently.  
Tsubasa couldn't help but notice the lone tear streak that had oh so gently stained her skin.

"Hey Madoka." He greeted, Hikaru standing near him, "I heard you wanted to talk to me."

"Yeah, I did.." Madoka said, her voice laced with a hint of sadness that Tsubasa could identify as the same type of sadness she had had the day of Zyro's battle - when she had feared Gingka may leave again without notice.  
"Are you okay?" The silverette asked out of concern, "What happened?.."  
"I saw Gingka.." Madoka said solemnly, "And I also saw Zyro earlier today.." Tsubasa sat down in his chair, listening intently to what Madoka had to say.

"Zyro said that... There might be something wrong with him, with the way he's been acting... So I asked him, and.. He got angry..."

Tsubasa's eyes widened as he put two and two together, listening to Madoka's words as he hoped he was wrong about what he suspected.  
"Madoka, what did he do?" Tsubasa asked, looking into the brunette's turquoise eyes through the screen.  
"I... I tried to tell him that he could say it if anything was wrong..." She said, tears forming on the edges of her eyelashes, "But he snapped at me... Then he said he was sorry, and he left.."

Tsubasa sighed in relief, leaning back in his chair as he was glad that what he had suspected was wrong.  
"What caused him to act that way?" Hikaru asked out of curiosity, "I don't think I've ever heard of him behaving like that."  
Madoka shook her head sadly.  
"I don't know.." She answered, "I just tried tell him it was okay.. But he yelled at me when I kept asking what was wrong... Zyro said that there may be something that he's not saying."

"Like what?" Tsubasa asked.

"I don't know.." The brunette said, "But I figured that you should know... So that you know for when you see him next time. _If_ you see him."  
Tsubasa didn't press Madoka any further on the subject than he had to, and let her go after another minute or two of talking and asking questions.  
The Director of the WBBA turned around in his chair and thought to himself, ignoring Hikaru's concerned looks as he pondered the subject for a few minutes.  
What exactly could be wrong with Gingka?...

* * *

Maru sat there with her laptop on the couch, having already finished her work on repairing today's Beys and silently waiting for the Bladers to come pick them up. There was no reason that she couldn't have a bit of 'her' time.  
Glancing towards the stairs, Maru pressed a few buttons until the distorted screen came up once more, possibly just from bad signal.  
"Did you receive anything?.." The voice asked, the mostly shadowed figure looking at her through the screen.  
"Yeah, I did." She said, opening up the tab for the recorded audio that she had gathered earlier that day.  
She turned her volume all the way down, and then played the footage for him to hear. For many moments did he say nothing, and only when it was over did he open his mouth to speak.  
"So I see..." He said, "They are starting to take notice of his behavior?" Maru simply nodded her head. "And are they taking notice of _you_ at all?"  
Maru shook her head again.  
"No, I've been sure to keep it as secret as I can without anyone finding out..." She explained, her eyes making their way over to the stairs every and now and then from a sense of paranoia, "But its not easy..."

"I wouldn't expect it to be..." He said, his gaze falling intently on her through the screen, "But you have been keeping a close eye on him, yes?"  
"Yes, I have." Maru said, "I went to find him at the hospital yesterday when he ran out of the room and didn't come back..."  
"Did you find him?"  
"To say the least.. Yes." Maru answered, swallowing from the memory that was somehow still fresh in her mind, plaguing her nightmares with the sight that she had seen before her.  
She had never seen someone suffering that badly, so horridly that she might've made him turn up her lunch right then and there - it was a good thing that she didn't have a weak stomach.

"And what did you see, Maru?" He asked, the screen buzzing out for a moment and distorting his voice slightly.  
For many moments, Maru did not speak, thinking back to what she had seen yesterday before looking up towards the screen.  
"Something more disturbing than I can explain.." She said, swallowing once.  
"Do tell..." He said, chilling her soul even more than it should have. To have to explain.. _That_.. She didn't know if she could handle that task. Describing something like that might be too much for her..

"I can try.." She said, looking up at the screen again, "But I don't know how much I'll be able to explain it that well.."  
Swallowing hard, Maru began to talk, her eyes going to the stairs constantly as a way to try and detract herself from the words she was saying.  
But her mind always kept pulling her back to the, over and over again in a never-ending cycle.  
Her stomach lurched, and she did everything she could not to run up to the bathroom without notice on him, and even when she finished did she have trouble speaking.  
"I see..." He said, and wasn't phased, "Very well then... You can go.."  
Maru simply nodded a thank you, before closing both tabs out on her laptop, leaving her at the screen she was usually at when she collected data.  
But instead of doing that, the pinkette quickly set her computer down, racing up the stairs, down the hall and into the bathroom, shutting the door quickly behind her and locking it.  
Unable to hold it back anymore, Maru hurried over to the toilet and threw up - the words she had used to describe such suffering still racing through her mind freshly.


	12. Chapter 11 - Weakness

Chapter 11 - Weakness

* * *

Gingka put his hand against the wall of the alleyway for support as he walked slowly, his eyes just barely open and his breathing as frantic as though having an asthma attack - he wasn't, of course, but he just felt...  
He didn't even know how he felt anymore.

With a small grunt did the redhead stop walking and press his back against the cold stone of the wall which didn't help with his body temperature, trying to look at his surroundings as his vision blurred.  
He could barely make out anything, not even the boxes that stood no more than 5 feet away on the opposite side of the alley.  
Oh god, why did he feel so weak?

No... He knew why...

Nearly 2 weeks ago when Zyro and his friends had rescued him from the DNA he had been fine, but not too long after that, he began to get weird headaches, coughing and... Other sorts of 'symptoms'.  
He well knew what was happening to him before anything worse began, like the pains in his chest, the constant dizziness and his vomiting that he greatly tried to keep a secret.  
He had only been getting worse over the past 2 weeks, and he didn't do anything to try and get rid of it.  
He _knew_ there was nothing he could do to get rid of it. These 'symptoms' were far worse than just being sick.  
And he knew it.  
He had given Zyro a mere hint about what was happening, and he didn't expect the Fire Blader to figure it out too soon.  
For all he knew it, it might already be too late before Zyro actually realizes it. To be honest, that thought terrified him to the core with a fear that he had not felt in a long time. The same fear he had felt when Hyoma had told him that his father was dying.

"So I see..." Came a voice, "Its affecting you even more than I had hoped.."  
Gingka gasped softly, slowly turning his head to the left towards the entrance (or exit) to the alley, a silhouette standing among the light which made their features entirely impossible to make out - all he could really see was that he had hair that made its way down to his shoulders.  
Even if the light _wasn't_ blocking his vision of the person, his vision would be too blurry to make out his appearance.  
"I guess they were correct when they said it wouldn't take long to start working." The redhead breathed heavily, fighting to keep his eyelids open and unable to speak, answer, or react. But he was just able to get out 2 words.  
"Who... Are you?..." He croaked, his throat feeling like it was being constricted and released then constricted again, over and over in an unbearable feeling that he almost couldn't handle.  
The person who stood in the entrance of the alleyway chuckled, a child-like giggle that rang like the sweet noise of tiny bells yet had a ferocity to it like the roar of a lion.

"Who am _I_?.." He repeated with amusement, that giggle ringing through the alleyway and in Gingka's ears almost endless, "I am the very person that will bring your legend to an end..."  
For a moment did Gingka look away and towards the ground, his breath coming out in wheezes that stung his throat with the air.  
He knew what he meant, maybe more than he'd really like to admit - he wanted to speak to him, to answer, to react to the madness of whoever this person why, and he had done this to him. He wanted to do _something_ , anything. Run, talk, anything. But he had already realized one thing... He was too weak too.

"You do a good job at hiding it, Gingka Hagane.." The other said, tilting his head slightly which still didn't help with seeing his face, "And you do at such a great cost of your friends never forgiving you for your deception... Have you thought about how much they'll hate you for it?... How much they'll resent you..."  
Gingka could do nothing but listen to his words, his throat feeling like it was being squeezed to the point where he couldn't breathe and then released again in a never-ending pattern, that voice ringing in his ears.  
"That's what amuses so much about watching you.." The other continued, "You're _very_ persistent... And you would do _anything_ to try and protect your friends, when really your just getting them into more danger than you want... Especially that little child... Zyro, was his name?"  
Gingka's eyes widened at Zyro's name, wanting to speak and defend said Blader from unknowingly being talked about and probably insulted by whoever this was, but he was unable to utter a single word from his throat.

"I wouldn't blame you for wanting to protect such an innocent soul, Gingka..." A soft and eerie giggle came from the other, "I'd probably do it too if I was in your shoes... But I'm not like that anymore... And I do hope you've realized that no matter how much you dearly try to protect them, to protect _him_... There is nothing you can do to stop the grief and despair of the truth from corrupting his young heart.."  
Tears slowly formed at the edges of his eyelashes, tears that he forced not to let fall and keep them in as long as he could - the redhead couldn't stand this.  
He couldn't stand just standing there, entirely helpless and immobile with the current inability to speak. Now he knew the feeling of being truly helpless.  
"In fact..." The other man continued, "All of those little children will soon know the true reality of this world... How utterly and disappointingly _cruel_ it is, that there is no such light in it that mankind won't seek to destroy... That there's nothing they can do for _you_ , Gingka Hagane.. They'll try, and try, and maybe - just _maybe_ \- get close enough to being able to stop it... But they will fail.. And they will watch it unfolds in front of them, and they'll realize that they failed..."

A shaky breath escaped Gingka's lips, the weakening feeling in his body bringing him down to his knees, where he did everything he could to prevent himself from falling face first onto the ground.  
"They'll watch..." A soft whimper escaped him, followed by a giggle from the other, "And you'll witness as that innocence falls apart..." Don't let the tears fall, don't show him weakness. "After all.."  
Go away, go away, stop talking, stop it... Stop it... Please dear god, just stop talking... "All of this is _your_ fault, Gingka..."  
Golden-brown irises evidently trembled as they weakly looked over to the man tat stood at the other end of the alleyway.  
That giggle rang out, that damned giggle that sounded with a demonic undertone and yet the sweetness of a mother singing to her child before bed. With no other words did he depart, leaving the Legendary Blader alone in that alleyway without strength, or a voice.  
So this is how it felt... Maybe now he finally knew...

* * *

 _"Shinobu..."_

The light-haired Blader gasped softly, a feeling of being lightheaded in his body and in his head that made him feel so dizzy.  
Everything around him seemed so clear, yet with a blurred outline that prevented him from seeing out of the corner of his eyes and forcing him to look almost entirely straight forward.  
He was at the WBBA, in halls that he had rarely seen before in the several times that he had been at that building.  
Yet there was a reason he was there, searching for something that he had to find, that he _knew_ was there - he just didn't know what it was.

 _"Shinobu..."_

The whisper of his name, in a voice that was spoken so softly it could be identified as either male or female.

 _"Shinobu..."_

With an eerie slowness did the light-haired blader look around, his gaze hitting the walls that surrounded him and filling him with a sense of knowledge that he couldn't identify.  
Somehow, he knew that something was there.  
Something that he - nor anyone - could see at all.  
He had to find it, and he didn't know why.  
"Who are you?" Shinobu asked in turn, receiving the echo of his voice in the brash emptiness where no one was.  
There was no answer, no sound except for the constant buzzing in his ears that could've been his breathing or his heartbeat. There was something there, something that he had to find. It was there, it was in this area. Something hidden, something secret.

 _"Shinobu..."_

He heard only his name in a whispered, broken voice, like one had tried to call out and yet could only let out a strangled cry from their voice going hoarse.

 _"Follow me..."_ Finally, a different form of words than just his name. With basically no control of his body, Shinobu turned to see the faintest light suspended in the middle of the air - like a lost soul searching for its way home.  
He reached his arm out, his fingers extended as if to touch it; it seemed as though it took his hand, the way a small child would when leading you somewhere - and altogether, the light disappeared, the presence of someone still remained.

 _"Shinobu..."_ Said the small voice, which indeed sounded more like a male child's tone, _"Please... Listen..."_ Shinobu could do nothing but listen, but watch, but breathe.  
He could speak, but he knew out of some sort of respect that he shouldn't.  
 _"Please... Shinobu..."_ An invisible force tugged at his hand gently, and he obliged to walk with it as it lead him down one of the hallways that descended from the one he was on.  
 _"Follow me..."_ He knew it might be a bad idea, but he had no choice but to oblige - had no control over his body at this point.  
"Where are we going?.." The light-haired Blader asked cautiously, feeling the invisible tug on his hand as he slowly yet surely following whatever was pulling him along.  
 _"You have to find him..."_

Him?

Who was him?

 _"Shinobu..."_

They - or he - kept walking, the hallways seeming endless unlike they may be in reality, though he asked nothing of it was he was unable to refuse.  
Then all at once, the force that had lead him was gone along with its presence.  
He stood there in silence, as though awaiting some sort of sign that he was in the right place, that he had reached the destination which he had been searching or.

 _"Shinobu..."_ His body turned, facing the wall where nothing stood and seemed entirely pointless. What did this mean for him to be here?  
Unless...

 _"Shinobu..."_

That voice was still there, calling to him and leading him to somewhere unknown.  
He wanted to ask what was going on, why he was here and what he was searching for - but he didn't.

 _"Please... Find us..."_

Shinobu subconsciously lifted his hand, staring straight forward at the wall that stood firmly in front of them.

 _"Shinobu..."_

He placed his hand on the wall, palm flat against it - and with a small shift did he knew. This was it.  
It was here...

* * *

"Uh, Shinobu? Hey Shinobu!"

The light-haired blader snapped out of his trance-like state from dozing off into space as they sat the counter of Bull Bull Burger.  
Green eyes looked around at his friends, even at the Manager who was staring at him with his arms crossed.  
"Uhh.." The Salamander Blader started awkwardly, "What?"  
Ren raised an eyebrow at him.  
"You were dozing off for the last 10 minutes," She explained, "And staring at the wall behind the counter like you wanted to marry it." Shinobu looked at the blond for a moment before looking away awkwardly.  
"Sorry, I was just thinking..." He said.  
"What about?" Zyro asked out of curiosity, taking a sip of his soda while his blue orbs were glued onto his best friend.  
"Uh.. Nothing..." Shinobu said, placing his head in his left hand as he silently ate his fries. All of them stared at him for several moments, including Benkei, before all going back to what they had previously been doing. Whether or not Shinobu had really been dozing off, he didn't know, but what he saw wasn't a mistake - it had felt like he was there, he had heard things, seen things, smelled things.  
It was too real to be a dream, yet too unbelievable to be reality - it just seemed like it had meant something, something that he was supposed to know. That they were all supposed to know...

* * *

Zyro had noted that Gingka had once more failed to return to the B-Pit. He had tried asking Madoka about it, but she strangely seemed uncomfortable with the subject, so he let her be.  
Even as he lay there on top of the bed covers and staring up at the ceiling - the bedside table lamp on so that he could keep the darkness at bay - he wasn't able to figure out what his mind wanted to understand.  
What was going on with Gingka lately? He hadn't been acting like himself at all - he may have only known Gingka a short time, but he had come to know the redhead's personality as well as the rest of them.  
 _"Gingka..."_ Zyro thought to himself as he stared up at the light dull blue ceiling, _"What's wrong with you?... I have a feeling I know what it is, but... Tell me I'm wrong..."_

He knew there was no way for Gingka to tell him right now, he was no where near where he was. With a sigh did Zyro sit up in bed, swinging his legs over the side and sitting there for a few moments, as if pondering life itself like he did almost every morning when he had to get up.  
Looking over to the bedside table, Zyro picked up the small clip-on flashlight that Gingka had let him borrow a few nights ago when they had been stargazing, so that he could make his way down the hallway and the stairs without collapsing under his own weight and freaking out.  
The Fire Blader clipped it on to the collar of his jacket, turning it on so that he would be able to use it when he entered the hallway and wouldn't struggle to find it.  
Zyro made his way over to the door, dreading the darkness that he could feel seeping in from under it yet was fought off by the light - oh how he hated the darkness, how he hated closed spaces... How he hated feeling so trapped..  
No, he could do this.

Just count, just breathe, it'll be fine.

One...

Two...

Three...

Zyro turned the doorknob, and opened the door that lead out into the darkened hallway. At least the flashlight did a bit to help sustain his fears, as it gave off a light that flew directly ahead of him and clung to the wall, brightening his back greatly.  
Taking a deep breath, Zyro stepped out into the hallway, feeling the walls slowly beginning to close on him at his presence..

Just count...

Just breathe.

One.

He walked down the direction of the hallway that would lead him to the stairs.

Two.

Just breathe, in and out.

Its okay.

Three. Zyro made his way down the stairs, keeping his eyes eternally fixated upon glow of the light that was emanated by the small device.

Four.

Just keep walking... Its okay.

Just keep breathing, keep counting, keep walking.

Five.

There's nothing to be afraid of. Make your way down the stairs to the front entrance, ignore the fear that bites at your ankles in an attempt to draw you back into a corner where you'll cower in fear.

Six...

Just across the room, just keep walking.

Deep breaths... In and out.

In and out.

Its okay.. You're almost there...

Seven.

Just open the door, slowly, surely, quietly. Make your way outside.

Eight. Almost there.

Nine...

Ten..

Zyro breathed hard as he finally made his way outside into the open, the constricting feeling that his entire body had felt now melting away into nothing as he stood there in the light of the street-lamps and the moon.  
Gently did he breathe in the cool night air, relishing the feeling as he looked both ways across the street before making his way across it.  
He hated the dark, he hated his fear...  
But eh had lived with it ever since he was small.  
And it wasn't the only fear that he currently had - the fear of what he suspected might be right, that what he thought might be wrong with Gingka was true.  
He had no idea where he would find the redhead in question at this hour, nor did really even focus on wanting to find him at that moment - he just needed a bit of clarification.  
With a soft sigh, Zyro took off down the sidewalk, hurrying through the city towards the destination of which he knew would be a good spot...

Zyro had been right when he guessed that the Bey Park would be a good spot to stargaze. He sat at the egde of the pavement, looking up towards the sky which was littered with thousands upon thousands of tiny, twinkling little stars like someone had spilled glitter onto a black glue-covered paper.  
The Fire Blader hummed to himself as he inspected the sky carefully, trying to see if he could find the Pegasus Constellation among the thousands - Gingka had showed him where it was when they had gone stargazing down by the river, he had just been too tired to remember where it was, or if it was even visible from here.  
He was hoping to at least find the Big Dipper, as he had heard Gingka talk about before he had fallen asleep the last time.  
As he hummed to himself quietly, he didn't hear someone sit down right next to him while he gazed up at the night sky - even if he did hear anyone, he thought it might just be Ren, Shinobu, or even Maru if the little mechanic had followed him down here for some reason.  
He was wrong on all 3 accounts.

"I thought I'd find you here.."

Zyro jumped at the sudden voice, his gaze shooting over to whoever was sitting next to him. What he saw was the golden-brown eyes of Gingka, that seemed to have faded from their original fiery gaze of determination and kindness that illuminated his soul.  
"H-how did you...?.." Zyro stuttered, still a been taken aback by the fact that Gingka had just showed up out of nowhere.  
Gingka smiled at the younger blader, a smile that had not faded in its light unlike the glow that had once been in his eyes.  
"If you get to know your friends well enough, you'll just be able to feel them." Gingka told him, "Its just always been a thing with me, I guess."

Zyro smiled awkwardly at the older blader, a burning desire to ask the question that had been on his mind that day - though he did everything he could to hold himself back. Gingka looked away from Zyro, and up towards the sky.  
"Which one were you looking for exactly?" The redhead asked, his golden-brown orbs scanning the night sky.  
"Oh, uh.." Zyro's blue eyes looked up to the sparkling darkness as well, "I was looking for the Pegasus Constellation."  
Gingka smirked gently, throwing a glance at the Fire Blader before pointing in a certain direction which was identified as north.

"Over there." He said, "Its always located in the Northern sky, if you want to know." Zyro followed Gingka's finger to where he was pointing, a smiled out of joy as he finally spotted the constellation he had been looking for.  
Seeing the Pegasus constellation just felt so surreal, like you were staring into the eyes of the gods that had riden the horse into the heavens itself.  
Maybe that was a reflection of why Gingka had that Bey - or maybe he was just over thinking a lot of things.  
Zyro's smile faded, though, as he looked over at the redhead who kept looking up into the cosmos with a peace that had - perhaps - not been on his soul for awhile.. He was just hoping that he wouldn't break that peace.

"Gingka..." Zyro began, an anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach as the Pegasus Blader looked over in curiosity, "We've, uh... We've noticed you've been acting kind of strange.. Like you haven't been yourself."  
A silence fell between the two as Gingka's eyes widened slightly, staring at the ginger-ravenette with no words coming from him.  
Zyro sat there in silence, afraid that he may have said something wrong or that had upset him, but all that he received with was a gentle, and apologetic smile.  
"I'm just a little under the weather, that's all." Gingka said with a reassuring voice, that may have convinced Zyro if he had not taken notice of Gingka's recent behavior.

"Are you sure?" He asked carefully, "Madoka, and the Director say you haven't seemed like yourself at all.. I even asked the Manager, and he said that's worried about you too."  
Gingka used every last bit of willpower that he had not to snap at Zyro the way he had Madoka, which he was still greatly ashamed about. All he did was gently put a hand on Zyro's shoulder, a small smile on his face.  
"I'm fine, Zyro.." He said, "Trust me."  
Zyro kept looking at him even as Gingka looked away and out towards the distance - though as much as Zyro would strain his eyes, he couldn't see what the redhead was looking at.  
He wished that he could trust those words, that he could just hear them and be convinced and know that it was alright - that nothing was wrong with him and that he was going to be okay.  
But after everything that had happened in the last 2 weeks, with the tournament and with Gingka, he couldn't bring himself to believe something that he now knew might be a lie. But now, he couldn't take it anymore.  
So, finally, he decided to ask the one question that had been burning through his mind like wildfire, the one that he knew might change Gingka's likeness towards him - but he was very willing to take that chance.

"Hey, Gingka..." Zyro began, his heart beating faster than it probably ever had in his entire life, feeling like he might vomit from the nervousness that pooled in his being.  
"Yeah?" Gingka asked, not looking towards the young blader as he gazed up into the sky at the stars which had - over time - become friends of his.  
Zyro breath was shaky for a moment, feeling the need to just back out now and run away, leaving the older Blader there utterly confused.  
But he wouldn't do that, he couldn't do, not now - not when he knew that something was wrong, that something was wrong with the Legendary Blader that he had idolized for years. He had to ask now. Or else he would never get another chance to, and it would all be in vain.  
He had to ask.

"Are you... Dying?"

A sharp gasp pierced the night air, shattering the wall of silence and peace that had been built around the two of them.  
For many moments did Gingka sit there, the ends of his scarf - the ends of his wings - being the only thing that moved in the soft breeze that was hardly even there.  
He sat there, staring at the ground that was several feet below them, like a sword had just been thrown through his heart the moment Zyro had asked that question.  
"Zyro..." The redhead gently whispered, saddened eyes hesitantly looking over at the Fire Blader beside him. Almost immediately did Zyro look away, looking down at his knees from shame.

"I'm sorry..." He said, "It's a really question bad to ask, I shouldn't of-"

"Zyro, its okay.." Gingka interrupted gently, once more placing a hand on Zyro's nearest shoulder. Reluctantly did the Fire Blader look up to the Legendary Blader - Gingka simply gazed back at him with kindness in those fading eyes.  
"It's not a stupid question, not at all.." Gingka assured him, "I know you're worried about me Zyro, but you just need to know that I'm okay.."  
Zyro looked down slightly, not making eye contact with the older blader.  
He had no idea whether or not he should actually believe him, but he had probably upset the older blader more than he had been meaning to.  
But even so, the redhead didn't seemed exactly bothered by the question. Hopefully he wouldn't think different of Zyro.

"So... You're not mad?" Zyro asked, looking up at the redhead with his sky blue orbs. Gingka raised an eyebrow with a small smile.  
"Mad?" He repeated playfully, "Why would I be mad?.. You're just curious Zyro, and you're worried.. I don't blame you for that."  
Zyro's eyes widened, looking at the redhead in surprise. He wasn't angry? He didn't think different of him?  
He didn't resent him for asking that question?  
"You don't?" Zyro asked out of disbelief.  
Gingka smiled softly and gently brought the younger blader into a hug, one hand on his shoulder-blade and the other on his back.  
"No.." Gingka answered, "I don't. I'm gonna be fine, Zyro, I promise.." Zyro sat there for a moment, letting the older blader gently embrace him before he pulled away.  
"I'd never hate one of my friends, Zyro." Gingka said with a soft smile, "And you definitely count as one of them.. So don't go thinking that just because you asked a question because your worried about me, that I'll end up hating you.."  
Zyro looked at the older blader for a moment, before smiling softly.  
Maybe he had jumped to conclusions to quickly.  
Even though he still did have his doubts about Gingka saying that he was alright, he just felt better about it - maybe he was telling the truth.  
Gently did the redhead in question put both hands by Zyro's ears - somewhere around his temples - and gently leaned over, kissing the top of his head with a softness that was almost brotherly.

Gingka let go of Zyro, and stood up, looking down at him for a moment. "I'll see you later, Zyro." He said with a soft smile, which was returned by the Fire Blader.  
"Yeah, okay.." Zyro said, looking away from the Legendary Blader as he departed from the Bey Park, leaving Zyro alone with the stars that he had always had fun looking at with his dad when he was a child.  
He could imagine that Gingka had done the same with his father when he was young.  
So he stayed there late into the night, watching the stars and spotting out different patterns and other constellations that he knew of, searching for the ones that he existed of his friend's Beys, as well as the Legendary Bladers.  
Yet even as he stayed there, gazing into the cosmos endlessly with a smile placed on his face, Gingka watched him from afar.

Golden-brown eyes, filled with tears, watched as Zyro sat there contently, watching the skies with a child's innocence that didn't deserve to face what was about to happen - soon.  
Maybe not just yet, but soon it would all come out - hopefully Zyro would finally realize the truth that he had kept from him; had kept from them all.  
The matter of if he would forgive him or not for his lies was an entire other story, but he kept that too himself.  
"Zyro..." Gingka whispered softly, though he knew that the younger blader wouldn't hear him. Zyro wouldn't want to know the truth, but soon that fate would be inevitable, unable to be stopped.. But maybe - just maybe - Gingka would be able to keep his promise.

"I'm sorry..."

With one last blurred, tear-filled glance at the younger blader that he had come to know as his friend, Gingka ran, jumping from building to building in the night.  
Maybe it was because he was afraid, maybe it was because he just wanted to run from the fate that awaited him and postpone it a little longer...

Or maybe it was just to hide the tears streaming down his face.


	13. Chapter 12 - Now

Chapter 12 - Now

* * *

The crowds roared with excitement, the rush of adrenaline from the soon-to-be battle running through everyone's veins in excitement.

"Welcome, Bladers, to the next battle in the BTF Tournament!" Blader Gai announced through the head-speaker, earning the cheers from the crowd that even the deaf may have been able to hear,  
"This is the 4th match in the tournament, and in today's battle, we have Shinobu Hiryuin!" The cheers of Zyro and his friends could be heard among everyone else, the half of the crowd on the other side of the stadium being able to see his shadow until he stepped into the light.  
"And Spike Bourne!" The other blader, in turn, marched out into the stadium, a small smirk on his face which was eternally marked with that x-shaped scar.  
Madoka, Tsubasa, Maru, and Benkei all watched from up above in the special seats that they always had, watching as the 2 bladers were called.

Gingka - of course - hadn't shown up to watch with them, as he hadn't for the last few battles. Tsubasa glanced over in Madoka's direction out of concern, watching her out of the corner of his eye - he could see the grief and loneliness on her face, even if she refused to show it that much; she was still upset about what had happened yesterday with Gingka. He hadn't seen said redhead for the last few days, unlike Madoka had several times - he was sure that Zyro may have seen him lately, but even if he did he said nothing.  
 _"Madoka..."_ He thought to himself, his gaze turning away from the brunette and back down towards the stadium.  
Both Shinobu and Spike made their way into the Zero-G stadium, their platforms rising up to prepare them for battle.  
"Come on, Shinobu!" Ren called out, cheering with the rest of her teammates.  
"You got this, Shinobu, take him down!" Zyro cheered with her, surprisingly not as tired as he thought he would be since he had stayed up late last night stargazing. If Shinobu heard them or not, he didn't show any sign - all he did was ready his Ninja Salamander within his launcher as Spike readied his Thief Zirago.

"Bladers, ready!" Blader Gai called from the big screen.

"3!"

Shinobu narrowed his eyes, focusing on the countdown as he prepared his Bey to launch.

"2!"

Zyro and his friends were the ones who may have been the loudest of them all, rooting for Shinobu all the way.

"1!"

Everyone could only pray that things would not turn out as they had with Ren's battle - perhaps this time would be different than the last.

"Let it rip!"...

* * *

Unlike the rest of the times that he had been able to watch, Gingka had not showed up anywhere near the Bey Arena to watch Shinobu's battle - instead, he sat hidden in the shipyard where he and Zyro had met, the pain on the surface of his neck burning him with intensity like an inferno.  
His breathing was shallow, almost drowned by the dizziness that made him nuisance in his daze, his vision blurring once more.  
Oh, why did it always have to get worse in the day and yet soon calm down, only to get even worse as time progressed? Why couldn't this all just end?.. Maybe because it just wasn't meant to be over yet..  
Or maybe 'he' just wanted to watch him suffer in agony for a little bit longer before he would make his world come crashing down onto him in one huge heap. Gingka wanted answers, just as much as any one of them would, like Zyro.  
That had been the reason that Zyro had asked 'that' question last night, out of pure worry for him and a bond that had formed over time..

How he _hated_ thinking about it - about how all of this would effect his friends, Madoka, and... Zyro...  
They would never be given the right to forgive him, for he knew that they probably wouldn't be able too.. What did he want with him?  
With all of them?  
With Zyro?...  
Maybe that was a stupid question to ask, as Zyro had accused himself of doing the night before; maybe it was just something that would end in vain.  
The redhead pulled at the edges of his scarf, bringing it up and around his neck as best as he could to both hide and keep warm; he was still always cold whenever he shouldn't be.  
With the dulling pain, Gingka slowly stood up from his sitting position and supported himself against one of the piled steel beams within the Shipyard, using that to hold himself up and maybe use less energy than he needed to.  
Shakily did he walk, able to support himself with the help of many objects in the abandoned construction site.  
He was becoming to weak to even walk without support, and then all at once his strength would come back and he would be fine for awhile - he just never really knew how long that strength would ever last.  
It wouldn't stop, and a lot of time he was barely even capable of sleeping at night, plagued by nightmares that even sometimes comforted his tired soul.

Why couldn't he just end it now, stop this suffering that he had to endure - what was this all for exactly?  
All Gingka did was slowly yet surely make his way through the area, somewhat able to walk on his own without any help, and left the shipyard - he would have to later apologize that he would not be able to watch Shinobu's battle as it happened...

* * *

He stood there silently, not saying a word as he watched them all through the screens, his eyes everywhere and yet in just one place at a time - how he saw that suffering face, and the other young faces that would soon be stained with the same expressions.  
How it brought joy deeply to his soul, the suffering of others the only thing that was able to keep him sane..

Sane- no.

He had lost that sanity years ago when he buried that half of himself and left him crying in the corner, acting as nothing more than a part of his shadow. And that piece of him was the only thing that cared.  
That child could care all he wanted, but he would never break through to the surface.  
"Shinobu Hiryuin has begun his battle..." Said the hollow female voice from across the room, almost always standing there with those blank eyes that reflected dusk before dawn, "I am surprised you are not watching..."  
A soft chuckle escaped the other, a soft smirk coming to his lips.  
"There's no need too.." He said, "There only battle that I was truly interested in was Ren Kurenai's, but she lost, as you remember..."

"I do.."

"The rest of them mean nothing to me..." He continued, "And Zyro Kurogane on the other hand... Well, he's another story.. The thing is, he won't realize the truth until its already too late to do anything... _If_ he figures it out, that is..."  
For several moments, his 'pet' did not say anything, standing there and watching as he observed them all with those golden-brown eyes, gently hued by a crimson red.  
"And what about his friends?" She asked, her voice a void of nothingness and lack of emotion,  
"What do you have planned for them?.." She waited, and she did receive an answer right away. Instead, he turned towards her, the large platform he stood on making him look down upon her from across the room.  
"They are all just game pieces.." He explained, "Nothing more than pawns on a chessboard that are meant to fall down to the king... They will suffer along with all of them, and they will powerless to stop it..."

How he spoke so passionately about those thoughts, the flames burning in his eyes and turning them crimson red, quite literally.  
Pain was something that kept him sane, even though he had abandoned sanity close to 8 years ago - the suffering of others appeared to bring him joy, a pleasure that was sick and disgusting but also oh so captivating, something that he almost couldn't contain.  
She would've felt intimidated, afraid, disturbed, if she had known any better than she did - but none of the those feelings surfaced as she lost herself in a trance of loyalty purely towards him. She was just his messenger raven, and he was more of a god compared to her.  
Quite literally...

* * *

"Salamander!" Shinobu called to his Bey, the marking on top of the face bolt pulsating with an aura of red-orange.  
The audience could feel the heat of Shinobu's flames, the burning of his Blader's Spirit raging from him.  
"Phantom Fire Shot!" His voice rang like a thousand church bells, Salamander hearing his plea and obeying the orders of its Blader.  
In an instant did the Bey begin spinning around the stadium at high speed, circling Theif Zirago as it created multiple clones of itself which were impossible to identify apart.  
Spike narrowed his eyes, a displeased look in his eyes as he glared at Shinobu.  
All Shinobu did in response was smirk, before ordering the charge upon Spike's Bey to end the battle.  
"Strike them all down, Zirago!" The short brunette called out in fury.

"Not gonna happen!" Shinobu retorted, "Salamander!"  
Every Bey that lay in Shinobu's possession charged towards Zirago, utterly confusing both Bey and Blader as to which one would be the one to attack.  
All at once did the Beys come crashing together, yet both Bladers saw Zirago and the true Salamander clashing together, the Fire Bey having come from the side and the duplicates disappearing as an explosion of dust wracked the Zero-G Stadium.  
Everyone held their breath, Zyro and the others almost on their tip-toes and over the railing to try and see the final outcome of the battle.  
Only when the dust cleared were they able to see Ninja Salamander spinning in the center of the stadium, while Thief Zirago lay at Spike's feet.  
All the brunette did in response was growl at the light-haired duelist as his Bey flew back into his hand.  
"Well that's it, people!" Blader Gai announced, "The winner of this round of the Bridge To The Future Tournament, is Shinobu Hiryuin!"  
The crowd roared with excitement at this news, flinging their arms in the air as Shinobu made his way from the Zero-G stadium.  
Spike did the same with a bitter look on his face, holding his Bey tightly in his fist as he headed back for the hallway that lead to and from the arena.

Up above, Tsubasa smirked as he watched Shinobu being greeted by his friends and teammates, while Sakyo simply stood off to the side as he watched Takanosuke fuss over him.  
"Well, looks like we have the upper hand as it stands." The Director noted, looking over at his companions.  
"Zyro and the others have won 3 matches," Madoka said, "While the ex-DNA bladers have only won 1, against Ren. I guess it all depends on how things work out later."  
Maru looked up towards her teacher, that cute, kitten-like look on her face.  
"Too bad Gingka wasn't here to see this." She said, "He'd be excited to know that Shinobu won." Madoka warily smiled down to the little pinkette.

"Yeah..." She said, "But he's probably watching from somewhere.. How about you go down there with them." Maru simply nodded and saluted her.  
"Thanks, Chief!" She exclaimed before gathering up her laptop and leaving the room to go down there with Zyro and the others. Tsubasa's smile faded from his face as he looked at the brunette, his golden-brown eyes filled with concern.  
"You think he'd be watching?" Tsubasa asked, not saying anything as Madoka refused to look at him directly.  
"I don't know..." She said, ".. Maybe he's changed.." Tsubasa and Benkei's breathing almost stopped when they heard her say those words.

No.

That was impossible.

Gingka Hagane never changed, they had seen that for themselves when they had finally reunited with him after all these years, and he hadn't changed a bit.  
Even with the way that Gingka may have been acting lately - however he was acting - he was still the same energetic dork that they had all known and come to love through the years.  
Even though they were shocked by Madoka's words, neither of them said a word; she was still upset about what had happened between her and Gingka the previous day, so they didn't wish to upset her even more than was actually needed too.

Maru, in the meanwhile, hurried up to Zyro and the others, who were currently congratulating Shinobu.  
"You showed him who's boss, Shinobu!" Ren said gleefully, jumping up in the air like a fan-girl at a boy band concert.  
"Way to go!" Maru said, joining in on the fun as they all walked down the hallway.  
The friends talked and bickered with each other, continuously congratulating Shinobu on his victory which he became a bit flustered about.  
Zyro was the one who mostly stood off to the side as the others fussed over him now, noting how Takanosuke and Sakyo had left them as Sakyo wasn't the social time - it was even more of a wonder why he himself wasn't saying anything now.  
Maybe everything that was happening lately was just getting to him on a different level, like how he had been so uneasy to ask Gingka that question that had been burning him up from the inside, and receiving an indirect answer that at the same time comforted his worrying mind.  
He just didn't understand any of this.

 _"Go to him..."_

A voice, a soft one that whispered like the soft chirp of a robin rang in his head, slowly down his area of time to a near stand still.

 _"Please... Go to him..."_

Zyro tried to move, but he found himself unable as everything seemed to be happening in between time itself, causing a numbness that left him only with the ability to think.  
Just like those nightmares that left him awake in the middle of the night...

 _"Go to him... Don't abandon him... Find him..."_

What was this voice trying to say?  
Why was it even speaking to him in the first place?  
Why did it sound so broken, with almost no identification of gender from how soft and weak they spoke, like words fading into the wind without a mind of their own.  
Maybe he was thinking to deeply on that, but maybe not.

 _"Please... Don't Leave him alone..."_

Leave who alone? What was this 'thing' talking about?  
It was like the nightmares that viciously kept him at night, unable to see anything or move, with only the ability to think to himself and let his mouth supposedly hang open.

 _"Please... Do this for me..."_

Who was 'me'... Or, who was this 'person', that spoke to him in such a soft voice that he almost had to strain to hear it if not for it echoing in his head.  
What were they talking about, or who? He had an idea, but he didn't like what the results might be.

 _"Do this for us... Zyro..."_

His name.

Right then, when he said his name, he felt something that he had never experienced in his life. A type of shock, a quiver, something that just felt so different and yet so nostalgic at the same time.  
It had never been that way when anyone else said his name, having heard it dozens of times before from old and new people, but this - this, was different.  
It wasn't something that would strike him as odd, but frighteningly familiar, like he new the voice that spoke to him in his head, and possibly had the power to speak to others at the same time.

But, that couldn't be possible... It just couldn't.

All in one swift moment did reality and time shift back to their normal pace, finding himself still walking with his friends before coming to an abrupt halt.  
There was something that he needed to know, and that 'thing' was trying to tell him - maybe that's what all his dreams and his consciousness was trying to tell him.  
Maybe it was sign that he needed to do something, and _fast_.. Something that deeply concerned...

"Zyro?" Ren asked out of concern, noticing her friend's halt and sudden trance like he was staring off into space. At her voice did the Fire Blader almost immediately snap out of it, causing him to look towards his friends who were now all looking at him out of concern.  
"Are you okay?" Eight asked, looking up towards Zyro with his deep green eyes.

"Uh, yeah..." Zyro said awkwardly, averting his blue eyes for a moment before looking back to his friends, "I just... Remembered something that I have to do.."  
The friends looked at each other for a moment before simply shrugging and nodding understanding - they knew it probably had something to do with Gingka, as they were just as worried about the Legendary Blader as Zyro was.  
If anyone could find out what was happening with him, he could.  
The friends simply said it was alright, and watched as Zyro raced down the hallway and away from them, out of sight in only a few moments with them in an awkward silence.  
Maru narrowed her eyes after the ginger-ravenette, knowing very well that he would possibly being going after Gingka.  
But as much as she wished and knew she should chase after him and gather as much information on the older blader as she could, she stayed where she was; Maru couldn't let them suspect anything...

* * *

The pain was gone, but he was still weak, almost limping through the alleyway as he nearly clung to the wall.  
Gingka swallowed shallowly, making sure not to use any more energy than he needed to if he wanted to stay standing and not fall to his knees.  
He felt dizzy, his vision out of focus as he carefully tried to make things out - but it wasn't easy. He stumbled and almost fell, but caught himself before he sunk down to his knees; he tried his best not to fall and use an unnecessary amount of his strength trying to get back up. It wouldn't be worth it.  
None of this really was, fighting off the urge to collapse and just give into the nauseating ache that tortured his soul.  
He wouldn't... He couldn't... He...

"Gingka?"

Gingka's eyes widened as he recognized that voice, calling out to him from somewhere nearby in the alleyways - Zyro.

No, no, no, no...

Why did he have to be looking for him at a time like this, why now of any time?  
He couldn't hate the young blader for his worry and concern - he really did like Zyro, and he would hate to have to be this way in front of him.

"Gingka?" His voice was closer, and he could hear the faint sound of hurrying footsteps towards his direction - how did he ever know that he was here in the first place? Suddenly feeling the surge of panic sparking some sort of strength in him, the redhead pressed his back against the wall beside the large garbage bin, hearing and feeling Zyro's presence come even closer and closer.  
Please... Don't look here...

"Gingka?.." Zyro's voice sounded from the center of a maze of alleyways which he had previously been headed towards, "Where are you?..."  
His voice sounded worried, laced with a tone that almost killed him inside and tore at his heart, but he refused to let it show.  
He could almost hear his breathing, the beat of his heart that pounded in his chest from supposedly running.  
"Gingka, please..." Zyro spoke, "Where are you?"

Oh how badly did Gingka want to say something, to come out of his hiding spot and show the younger blader that it was okay, that he was fine and there was nothing to worry about - but that would all be a lie, just like all the lies that he had ceaselessly told for weeks and pained his already tortured soul.  
He wanted nothing more to hug him, to comfort him and say that it was okay, something that he knew he shouldn't do.

"Gingka... I don't know what's wrong with you, but please..." Zyro looked around, as if trying to see the redhead in somewhere where he wasn't, for all he knew he and Gingka weren't even in the same part of the city.  
He wouldn't even really know what to say if he actually found Gingka, but he just wanted to talk to him again, to see him again.  
That 'voice' had said something about going to him, not leaving him alone like he wanted to be. He fully respected Gingka's wishes, but he just felt the need that right now he might have to disobey him.

"Gingka, I just wanna help you..."

Those woulds were the ones that broke Gingka's heart, melting him into a puddle of grief and regret that shadowed over his soul.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry...

Don't let him see you like this...

Don't...

Zyro's blue eyes looked down towards the ground, knowing that the Legendary Blader was probably far from where he was and that he couldn't hear anything of the words that he was saying - all he did was sigh.  
Maybe Gingka was somewhere else, maybe his intuitions were wrong about being somewhere near where he currently was; maybe it was just entirely pointless. But he didn't let that get to him.  
Instead, the Fire Blader looked around one last time in hopes of finding the Legendary Blader, before hurrying off through the alleyways once more back to the city streets where he would feel much less uncomfortable.  
Yet Gingka still sat there, body frozen against the wall as those words of Zyro's rang in his head, fresh like a wound that had just recently been cut and bleeding into his spirit, infecting his mind.

The tears came to his eyes, the ones that he absolutely refused to let fall - he hated crying in front of people, and sometimes even when he was alone...  
But he knew that even know, in a dark alley with no one else, that he wasn't alone...

Not with the eyes that stared into the back of his skull and head and watching his every move, never giving him a single moment of peace.  
 _"I'll never beg for your forgiveness, Zyro..."_ Gingka thought to himself, his own inner voice empty in a void of nothingness, _"Don't eventually turn out the same way I have... Don't let him..."_

His thoughts were entirely cut off as a fit of coughing over took his being once more, raising his hand to his mouth to catch whatever could come flying out of his mouth.  
Gingka was unable to prevent himself from falling to his knees as he coughed violently into his hand, his body being wracked with shivers at the feeling of something being caught down where his chest and his throat met each other.  
Yet he remained there, trying to keep still as the fit of coughing continued, and went through it like he continuously did almost everyday.  
Thank god Zyro was now far away from where he was, that his footsteps and his presence had long disappeared from where he was, that he could not longer feel it like he had been able to.  
Slowly - agonizingly - did his coughing die down, shakily pulling his hand away from his mouth with visibly trembling irises.

Carefully did he put his other hand on the side of the garbage bin, leaning against it as he let his hand drop down to his side limply; even with the intense heat that gazed over the city in the early summer, he still kept his sleeves down instead of rolled up around his elbows.  
The cold was almost comforting to him, in a way that he had never really thought that it would ever be, but he ignored that feeling.

All Gingka could really do was whimper as the pain returned, leaning weakly against the cold, cobalt-colored metal, and let the small red streams of liquid slowly drip from his fingertips...

* * *

She still stood there with him, standing in silence as he watched them all without a word, his similar eyes watching others with a malicious look.  
The red hue in them still remained, laying just below the surface of a form and self that did not appear on the top.  
She - of course - did not say anything about it, for she didn't have the conscious to. She simply heard, and obeyed his orders with body and soul dedicated to him and him only.  
Yet all he did was watch, with great amusement and a small eye twitch that divided him between the lines of insanity and sane.  
She knew he didn't care about her, nor did he really care about anyone else at all except 'him'.. But she didn't care either - after all, it wasn't her place to really even feel emotion now.

"They are suspecting his behavior..." She said in a silent monotone, "You do realize that means you won't be able to play at your game for too much longer, right?"  
For many moments, she did receive an answer from him, both of them wallowing in silence except for the buzzing and small sounds that would come from the screens.  
"Of course, I realize..." He said, a softer tone to his voice rather than his usual one, "But that just gets me all the more excited to see them... And watch them as they break..."

Silently did she hear his words, the ones that he often repeated over and over again from pure joy at the thought, something that she would never be able to fully understand yet did as he said anyway.  
Sometimes she knew what he was thinking before he even said anything at all - maybe that was why she didn't care about anything around her anymore.  
"Yet would you tell me one thing?..." She questioned softly, hearing his muttering come to a stop as he glanced back at her from over his shoulder. "How can you be sure that they won't stop you?.. How will you be sure that we will win?.."

There was a silence, a silence that could almost be considered as deafening even though there was no sound around that could do as such.  
"Because..." He finally said, that malicious and slight demonic tone returning to his voice that came out like silk on a string, "I will have already taken whatever hope they have..."  
Those words were the ones that rang throughout the room like thunder, words that were deprived of warmth or care or gentleness and even made her - through that emotionless and unfazed mask - shiver to the core.  
Yet that was as she had come to know, that that was all she could ever be able to feel while she heeded his orders.  
Nothing more and nothing less.

"They are helpless without _him_..." His voice went on, looking back towards the screens of which he spent so much time watching that it would probably be unhealthy for a regular person, of which he was not, "He is the only true shred of hope that they have ever had.. The last drop of faith that has ever collided with this world and made him into a hero... But we both know that he was none of that.. Not after what he did..."

A soft chuckle - a giggle, more like - escaped him with a demonic snicker from underneath, a part of him that rarely showed from the mask over top.  
"In all honesty... He might not be any better than I am..." He said softly, words that she had come to understand from the things that he had explained to her, had shown her, had held her witness too - she had not come to care, "Of course, they don't know that... But it will be such a joy when they do... Especially that little Zyro Kurogane... How heartbroken he'll be when he finds out the truth about the man that he idolizes.. That he considers a _friend_.."  
Golden-brown eyes looked towards the screens, a red color outlining them for a split moment before returning to the more peaceful state of them that they continuously held even though that part of him hardly existed anymore.  
"You are the one who will blend in with them... Let suspect nothing yet as much distance as possible.." His words were towards her, which she listened to with great intent as she did not move on his orders.  
A small giggle once more escaped him, becoming what was almost like a snicker and ringing out with an eerie vibe from it that did not faze her in the slightest bit.  
It was something that could never frighten her even with how much her inner conscious told her to run.

"Be prepared, my pet..." He said with a voice that almost wasn't his, looking back at her with his 2 bangs covering part of his eyes, "For everything will start to begin.."  
Her head shifted, her shadowed eyes looking towards him with a blank mind.

"When?" She asked, which was almost like a command and not a request.  
But he did not say anything about it, as his eyes widened in the slightest bit and illuminated the room with a red glow that had not existed for years.  
That look was all the answer that she needed.

 **"NOW..."**


	14. Chapter 13 - Dreams Of Ill Omen

Chapter 13 - Dreams Of Ill Omen

* * *

It was raining.

It was raining and Zyro was still looking for Gingka despite the change in the weather.

He didn't really care.

He just let the raindrops hit him, his hair drooping in the slightest bit as the water dripped from his chin, the edges of his hair, his fingertips, almost anywhere that there was an edge.  
One could've almost mistaken him for crying if it wasn't for the rain, creating a soft, white mist that came up from the roads and made everything around him seem so surreal.  
He wasn't even searching anymore, just standing there as he let the rain wash away the filth of the world that he had been plagued with and let it chill him to the bone with the cold and wet feeling.  
He didn't know how long he had been there, but he honestly didn't care either.  
All he did was stand there, listening to the sounds of the few cars that had decided to foolishly drive in weather that was this misty and cloudy that they could barely even see the sky.  
It was like the dreams he used to have when he was just a kid, back before he had ever even heard of Gingka Hagane and how he had saved the world from Nemesis, when he would just be standing on a sidewalk of his hometown or a city that he had never seen before, the raindrops falling but never hitting him as he watched the mists of white slowly cloud up from the streets as cars drove by without a sound.  
He usually only had those dreams when something bad was about to happen, but he hadn't ever had those dreams since he was a child - the last time he had one was when he was 8, before the Nemesis crisis had began and had almost destroyed the world.  
He hadn't had one of those dreams since.  
But this one was far too more real than those ones.

He looked around him slowly, somewhat being able to see the fogged outline of buildings that he had come to recognize few times; in the meanwhile, he also spotted the street lights, seeing the ones that faced the sides turning green and red while the one that faced almost directly towards him seemed stuck on yellow, probably broken and in need of repair.  
The croak of what sounded like a raven echoed above his head, mixing in with the sound of thunder in the sky that he had come to get used to over the course of his childhood.  
He didn't know why he stayed there - he knew he would catch a cold, if not the flu and be forced to stay in bed for what would probably weeks, but Zyro could honestly care less about that at this point.

All he wanted were answers.

Answers to why Gingka kept running, and hiding from all of them.. He had seen him only the night before when he had asked a question that he truly did regret asking, but had been too curious to stop himself.  
He had sworn he had been in that section of alleyways, he had felt him - or at least, he had thought he had felt him.  
Maybe Gingka's words were just something a lie, that shadowed the truth like a ghost with no other hope...  
He honestly hated thinking of the redhead that way.  
Standing there did nothing to help him, except for making him feel cold and wet while being soaked to the bone - almost literally - and causing him to barely even shiver as almost everything felt numb.  
But, the rain soon stopped pouring on him, a shadow casting over him as he felt someone stand beside him from previously being alone.

"Zyro?"

He recognized her voice, blue orbs looking over and seeing Ren standing there, completely dry as she held the large umbrella over his head to keep the rain from falling on him anymore.  
"H-hey Ren..." He said softly, his voice a bit shaken from suddenly realizing exactly how cold he had become from standing out in the rain; for how long, he had no idea.  
"We've been looking for you." Ren said with concern, being sure to hold the umbrella over Zyro more than herself, as he was the one who was entirely soaked to every inch of his body, "We tried asking Madoka but she said you hadn't come back, so we split up. What are you doing out here?"  
Zyro honestly had no idea what he was going out there anymore, having almost lost all trace of thought which was probably from the cold that had swallowed him whole awhile ago.  
"I-I don't know, honestly..." He said, hugging himself as he shivered, "I-I can't rr-really remember..."  
At this, Ren almost became panicked, knowing what ammonia could do a person if they stood out in the cold and rain long enough.  
"Okay, maybe we should bring you back to the B-Pit." She suggested, gently putting an arm around his shoulders and feeling exactly how cold he was, "Come on.."  
Shakily did Zyro oblige, following her as he still heard the croaking of the raven overhead...

Ren and Zyro both crossed the street, standing in front of the rain-soaked doors of the B-Pit as the storm poured down on the city, standing there with him and holding the umbrella over his head.  
"There.." She said, shivering a bit as well, "You should get instead and get warmed up.. Madoka and Maru are worried about you ya know."  
Zyro could only nod, shivering at least a dozen times more violently than she was. Ren smiled softly before leaning over and placing a quick peck on Zyro's lips before pulling away.  
She watched in amusement as Zyro's pale cheeks lit up with a light pink color and smiled, winking at him.

"Maybe that'll warm ya up."

Before Zyro even had the time to respond, she ran off, hovering the umbrella over herself and making her way down the misty path of the sidewalk.  
Zyro quickly snapped back to his senses before shakily opening the door of the B-Pit and making his way inside.  
But it was only as soon as he opened the door and the bell rang was he suddenly almost tackled by Madoka, hurrying up to him out of concern and placing both of her hands on either of his cheeks, cupping his face.  
"Zyro, what were doing out there?" She demanded, her turquoise eyes looking over his body, "You're soaked to the bone and you're going to get a cold, if not the flu! Come on, I'll take upstairs and run you a bath."  
Zyro's eyes widened, shaking his head.  
"N-no, I can do it myself!" He insisted, still shivering despite the warmer temperature of the building.  
Madoka simply eyed him for a moment before sighing and agreeing to his wishes, watching as the ginger-ravenette shakily made his way up the stairs.  
Madoka knew that she wasn't his mother, not the slightest bit - but it was just an instinct for her to care about him that caused her to be so worried, maybe because of Maru living with her.  
But the Fire Blader hadn't really needed to be out there that long, without an umbrella and coming back soaked through his skin and probably numb - she wouldn't be surprised if he got sick.  
The brunette placed her hands on her hips as she looked at the water that Zyro had unintentionally trailed on the floor, sighing as she knew that she would definitely need to clean that up...

* * *

Zyro had - of course - been permitted to go to bed the moment that he had gotten out of the bathroom, and he was happy to oblige to those orders.  
Yet the only downside to staying in bed, was that he never did have anything to occupy himself with, and was just left laying there until he got tired and finally gave into sleep.  
Yet a strange feeling pooled in the pit of stomach as he closed his eyes, darkness encasing his being as he slowly gave into the exhaustion of looking constantly for Gingka, he couldn't shake off the feeling of experiencing a moment that was so similar to the dreams that he had had as a child...

He had also believed that he was still out there in the cold and rain as he saw himself there again, in the misty streets of Metal Bey City where had had been standing, entirely dressed and in the same spot where he had been.  
Yet as the rain fell hard upon the streets, making the dim noises of dripping, nothing hit him - he was entirely dry, not a speck of rainwater on him.  
He watches the headlights of cars, seeing them drive by without even making a single sound, just like Zyro remembered...  
He hadn't had one of these dreams since he was 8 years old, before the Nemesis crisis... He looked down the street, seeing the street lights blinking yellow, without being able to turn to the red or green as if they had suddenly just malfunctioned all at once.  
The sounds of crows echoed against the soft sound of the rain that surrounded him, ravens mixed in along with them as if in mourning...  
He remembered everything about these dreams, except there was one thing that he didn't see.  
There was always a boy, usually about his age if not older, with a black umbrella and dressed in black clothing that entirely concealed his appearance - he would rarely speak, and when he did it was the softest voice that Zyro would have to strain his ears to hear.  
Each time he had one of these dreams, they would hold hands with each other, walking down the sidewalk that never ended and no words were ever exchanged between the two.  
There had never been a need to speak.

Zyro blinked once, a calm look on his face as he turned to the side - he was there.

They both stood at what was almost the same height, the black umbrella up over and his head and his black clothing completely covering his entire body, even his hair and making impossible to even see his eyes.  
"Zyro..." His voice was soft, barely even above a whisper with the sweetest of sounds that made the Fire Blader feel so nostalgic.  
It was a nice feeling, not having the cold and rain pouring down on you, and having the one dream that comforted him the most as a child.  
"Hi..." Zyro said with a small smile, of which the other boy did not return, for he had always had a stoic nature about him that Zyro had continuously felt comfortable with. "I only have these dreams when something bad is about to happen..." Zyro said softly, standing there with the other.

"Yes..." The black-clothed boy said softly, "And you should know, Zyro... Save him..." Zyro's expression grew confused, furrowing his brows gently as he stared at other boy.  
"Who?" He asked, "What are you talking about?..."  
"You know..." The other send, his umbrella shifting slightly between his small fingers that were somehow a bit thinner than Zyro's, so delicate that they couldn't be real - but then again, it was only a dream.  
A dream that he had every time something bad was about to happen to someone, or a number of people...  
Someone...

No.

No, that couldn't be possible.

He couldn't possibly mean-.

"You've known me..." The other said softly, his tone that like a mouse was speaking, "I don't lie to you... You should go..."  
Zyro's eyes widened, staring at the other boy that had been some sort of friend to him throughout half of his life.  
"Wait." The Fire Blader said quickly, and he received no reaction from the other, "I've know you my entire childhood... Who exactly are you?"  
There was a silence between them, like the silence that stood all around them except for the soft tip-tap of rain and light croaks of ravens.  
The other shifted slightly, his head lowering in the slightest bit as if debating whether or not he should answer Zyro's question.  
All he did was look up, though his features were not something that Zyro was able to see. But he did catch the faintest tug of a smile on his pale lips, perhaps a since of remorse, or answer.. Or apology.

Zyro never got the chance to say anything further as all reality and consciousness came back to him, shooting him up from his pillow and his eyes watering as they caught the late morning sun through his window.  
The ginger-ravenette squinted, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and regaining focus as he felt the dawn of their new days coming upon them. He breathed softly, recalling perfectly the dream that he had just experienced, the one dream that he had not had in a long time...

Something was going to happen... And he feared he knew what it was...

The Fire Blader raced down the stairs as fast as he could once he had gotten dressed again, ignoring the ache in his limbs that had been caused from sleeping on a slightly weird angle, much to his body's protest.  
"Oh, hi-" Maru began, only to be unintentionally ignored by the ginger-ravenette as he almost jumped down the stairs and out of sight, leaving her there with an unfinished sentence.  
Zyro only stopped at the bottom of the stairs when he saw Madoka, who nearly jumped when she heard Zyro's feet coming down the stairs and had turned to see the cause.  
"Oh, hey Zyro." She said with a smile, "I guess your feeling a bit better, huh?"  
Zyro nodded anxiously, giving the brunette a soft smile and a shrug.  
"Uh, yeah, sure..." He stuttered out quickly, "Madoka, do you know where Ren and others might be?" The shop-owner gave the young blader a slightly confused look before answering.  
"Well, I think I heard Ren and Shinobu were over at Benkei's.. I don't where Kite and Eight ar- hey!"  
Madoka had the chance only to blink before Zyro raced out the door, leaving her explanation unfinished and her standing there as she stared at the clear glass of the front doors.  
The brunette blinked once, wondering exactly what had gotten into Zyro that morning. He definitely wasn't cold anymore, as he had been yesterday evening - she didn't even think that he had a cold at all.  
Which was definitely something she needed to wonder about...

* * *

He was weak.

Barely even having enough strength to keep his balance as he slowly made his way - step by step - through the alley, half-leaning against the wall for support as he desperately tried his hardest.  
Gingka didn't know exactly how much longer he could go on for.  
He could barely make out anything, his vision blurring this way and that and making it seem like there was at least 4 of everything.  
All he could do was slowly - very, very slowly - make his way down the long alleyway, almost limping in his steps and counting in his head before he took another.

One, two, three, four...

Another step.

One, two, three, four...

Another step.

One, two, three, four...

His breathing was raspy, like his airway was being blocked by something that he just couldn't identify.  
Yet even so, he kept pushing himself as much as he could, warding off his dizziness and need for rest with every bit of willpower that still managed to inhabit his body.  
But it wasn't an easy thing to do.  
He had at least half-expected the pain to dull down, for his dizziness to go away after awhile and leave him with at least a bit of peace that would enlighten him like dawn did to dusk.  
But it wasn't so as his suffering had continued through the stormy night, leaving him with a nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach that had been caused by the dizziness wracking his brain over and over again in an endless wave.  
He honestly wasn't sure how much more of this he was going to be able to withstand.

But he had too...

He just had too... For all of them, especially Zyro..

 _"Zyro..."_ He thought to himself, almost having to stop in his tracks just to do so, _"Please... Just please..."_

A small cough escaped his throat, making him feel like he was about to vomit up whatever his stomach and bowels might have left for him to turn up - which he knew wasn't really much.  
All he could do was breathe heavily, sounding like someone who had severe breathing problems and had just gone on a long run - it may have very well been that at the least...  
But Gingka didn't really care anymore. It wasn't going to matter sooner or later anyway..  
Wheezing heavily, the Blader slowly made his way through the alley, taking one step at a time...

* * *

Zyro hadn't taken the time to let Madoka finish her sentence as he had raced out the door, running at lightning speed through the city towards Benkei's, where she had said that Shinobu and Ren supposedly were.  
He had been to Bull Bull Burger many times before, so it wasn't a hard place for him to find. He just hoped that Madoka was right when she said that at least the 2 of them would be there.  
It caused almost everyone to jump when Zyro opened the door as quickly as he had, sounding like he would soon break the hinges if he had done it again.  
Sure enough, Ren and Shinobu were both there, sitting at the counter and now looking towards the Fire Blader along with the Manager behind the counter.  
"Zyro?" Ren questioned, raising an eyebrow while her rich brown eyes were still wide, "What are you doing here?"  
Hurriedly trying to catch his breath, Zyro did his best to speak.  
"I... I don't have time... To talk.." He managed to get out, swallowing what felt like fist fulls of air into his lungs as much as he could in order to speak properly.  
"I need you guys... To help me find Gingka.."

This caught the attention of all three of them, Shinobu turning around in his seat completely and Benkei coming up to the edge of the counter with a concerned look.  
"Why do you want us to help you look for Gingka?" Shinobu asked, concern setting in on his features.  
"I don't have time to tell you.." Zyro said with a panicked expression that almost scared them all, "But we _have_ to find him... I have a really bad feeling what'll happen if we don't."  
The 3 of them all stared at Zyro for several moments, every second feeling like an eternity that they had just lost - he wasn't crazy, he swore he wasn't crazy.  
The 3 looked back to the Fire Blader before the 2 light-haired Bladers jumped down from their seats.  
"Sure, we'll help ya find him Zyro." Ren said with a small smile, and a nod from Shinobu that proved that he was all in for it.  
"I'll come with ya!" Benkei said, taking off his uniform and leaving him in fairly normal-looking clothes, "I'm worried about the moron too, so lets get to it."  
Breathing softly, a small smile made its way across Zyro's face out of gratitude.  
"Thanks guys, thanks Manager." He said, looking at them all with his blue eyes.

They - of course - didn't waste anytime in hurrying out the door in search of the said Legendary Blader, Benkei ordering his employees to serve any customers that may arrive while he was gone - they didn't protest.  
"Zyro, do you know where he is?" Ren asked as they hurried down the sidewalk, all of them stopping and gathering around in a square-like circle.  
Zyro shook his head, much to her dismay.  
"No, I don't..." The ginger-ravenette said gravely, "But I think he'd could be in some sort of alleyway, somewhere..."  
"Why an alleyway?" Shinobu asked out of curiosity.  
"Well, I went looking for him yesterday," Zyro tried to quickly explain, "And I just had the feeling that he might be in some sort of alleyway, so I just followed that intuition to wherever he was... But I ended up telling myself it was just in my head."  
Benkei put his hands on his wide hips, looking down at the young bladers.  
"Well, just go with your gut!" The Manager exclaimed, just equally as concern for how his old friend may be holding up as the rest of them were, "Ya did yesterday, didn't you?"  
Zyro stared at the purplenette for a moment, quickly calculating it in his mind and trying to set pieces together that didn't seem to fit.  
"Okay..." He said, swallowing the lump in his throat that seriously made him feel uneasy. He just hoped that Gingka would still be standing by the time they found him - _if_ they found him...

* * *

Gingka whimpered softly as he could barely walk, only able to get a pinch of air into himself every now and then from his wheezing and gasping that made him sound like some sort of dying animal.  
He could barely keep his eyes open at this point as leaned against the wall, barely even able to muster up enough strength to actually move through the alley anymore - he really had hoped that it wouldn't have come to this, but it unfortunately did...  
He just didn't want to close his eyes, fearing that every time he would blink that they would stay glued shut with no hope of continuing on.  
The redhead swallowed, a small cough shaking his being and almost causing him to fall over in his dizziness - why did this have to be happening, why now?

Why to him? Why to them?...

 _"What do you want from me?..."_ He thought to himself, which somehow only made his head hurt even more than it already was, but at this point he really couldn't care that much about it, _"What do you want?..."_

"Gingka!"

Gingka's eyes widened in the slightest bit, with what they were able too.

That voice... Zyro?...

The sound of many footsteps approached him, and he knew that he had no chance of escaping from Zyro, Ren, Shinobu, and Benkei, he hurried over to him out of concern.  
The redhead just managed to look up in the slightest bit, seeing the blurred outline of the younger bladers and the much larger one as they came up to him.  
Zyro almost immediately came over to his side and supported half of him, which he was grateful for - yet he tried not to go to relying heavily on Zyro for balance, and he even saw Benkei with his arms out at either side as if ready to catch him if he fell.  
"Zyro?..." Gingka managed to say, looking over at the ginger-ravenette with almost blank golden-brown eyes, slight hazed over as if he were going or were blind - that was a frightening thought.

"W-what are you doing here?..." Gingka managed to ask, his breathing coming out frantically like it was about to stop altogether - and that terrified them all.  
"We came to find you, Gingka.." Ren said, being the first to speak as she watched the redhead with worry.  
"Why..." The Legendary Blader began, struggling to speak and even to find words, "Would you...?"

"Because we _know_ you're not alright, Gingka." Zyro said firmly, still gently supporting one side of him so that it wouldn't be as easy for him to fall, "Even _you_ know that you're not okay. So what's going on?"  
The redhead's irises visibly trembled as he looked towards the ginger-ravenette, just able to make out his concerned expression through his blurry vision.  
"Zyro, I-" He didn't get the chance to finish as he coughed once more, his eyes widening and unable to stop himself from falling to his knees as he coughed violently, sounding like something was stuck in his throat.

"Gingka!" All of them exclaimed as the redhead fell to his knees, coughing violently and unable to bring a hand to his mouth to catch the frighteningly large amount of blood that splattered onto the ground.  
Zyro's eyes widened in horror at this, as did the rest of them and stood there in shock, watching as the redhead shook and was barely able to keep himself even on his knees.  
His breathing was raspy, something that sounded like blocked air from something in his throat that he may have very well coughed up along with the blood that lay beneath him.  
"Gingka.." Zyro whimpered in a frightened tone, now kneeling beside the redhead along with the other 3, who were equally as frightened for him as Zyro was.  
"Zyro..." Gingka managed to say, looking over in the slightest bit towards the younger blader - it was almost horrifying how pale his face was, "I... Won't ask you to forgive me... But, please..."  
Zyro's eyes widened, staring at the Legendary Blader fearfully in a way that broke Gingka's heart. With the last of the strength that he had to go on, he was only able to give 4 words that struck Zyro's heart so violently he could've stopped breathing.

"Remember what I said..."

With no strength left in his being, Gingka entirely collapsed upon himself - but he never hit the ground as Benkei had hurried to catch him in his arms as he ultimately fell unconscious then and there, his eyes closing and his face so pale that he could be mistaken for some sort of ghost.  
"Gingka..." Zyro managed to whisper, staring at the now unconscious redhead that was now in Benkei's arms, barely even looking like he was breathing at all.  
"Gingka..." Shinobu whispered as well, a horrified look in his eyes - Ren covered her mouth in shock, unsure of what to say as they all stood there in the alleyway, frozen in place like all time and logic around them had slowed to a sudden halt.  
"Come on..." Benkei said, his voice shaking slightly as gently tried to get Gingka into a bridal position in his arms without hurting him, "We should get him to Madoka, he's not looking to good.."

This suggestion knocked the younger bladers out of their haze, simply nodding and aiding the purplenette in putting Gingka into his arms bridal style before he stood up with him.  
Zyro visibly shivered when he saw Gingka lay limply in the Manager's arms, his eyes closed and his mouth open in only the slightest bit as he if he were only sleeping, but his lifeless look told an entirely different story.  
It took several moments of trying their hardest to overcome the shock that had temporarily consumed their minds before they hurried their way out of the alley, Benkei carrying Gingka in his arms and assuring that he would be alright until they got to the B-Pit.  
Zyro - however - was an entirely different story, hurrying along with his friends and the Manager towards the B-Pit while all the while having everything in his mind just seem to shut off and turn on again.

Gingka...

He wasn't okay.

He hadn't been okay this entire time, and Zyro had been far too blinded by his excuses to be able to see that - maybe this was all his fault, that Gingka was in this position...

Maybe Gingka wouldn't get to open his eyes again, and the fault would eternally be his...

* * *

The eeriest of excited giggles echoed through the metal-plated room, only caused by _him_ as he looked upon them all with amusement and joy enticing his soul.  
It was just so sickeningly joyous to him that he had a hard time controlling himself in front of his 'pet' that stood behind him as she always had, staring at him with a blank expression that made her seem like she wasn't even there at all - in a way, she wasn't.  
His giggling - or laughing - did not frighten her as it may have others who were still in their right mind.  
It just didn't, because she just didn't know any better.

"Oh, how amusing..." He said through his giggling, which came out like a school-girl who was excited to talk about the boy that she adored, "They think that it'll be okay! But they don't know!" He laughed again, almost shrieking from sheer excitement that he fought to kept in as much as he was able to, "But its only just the beginning of that!"  
She watched him, half of her face dimly illuminated by the dozens of screens that he observed day and night.  
She might have been able to feel pity for the ones that would be suffering under his hand like mere chess pieces with no other purpose than to be under someone else's control - but she was unable to feel any sort of emotion towards them anymore, not while she devoted herself to him alone.  
"Now what will you do?..." She asked, her voice emotionless with no trace of the woman that she had once been, and he had taken away from her.  
A small chuckle escaped his lips, his now crimson eyes glancing back at her with a sick and distorted joy that could terrify anyone.  
"What else?" He said, a soft yet demonic undertone in his voice that reflected on the part of him that stood above his shadow, "We let them know..."...

Zyro, Ren, Shinobu, and Benkei didn't care about the streetlights or the people who yelled at them as they passed from pushing them out of the way, nor did they care about the numbing in some of their legs from running towards the B-Pit.  
All that really mattered to them was getting Gingka there, and hopefully he would be okay - but they knew that was probably only false hope that they were clinging to.  
Shinobu raced ahead of them and pushed the doors to the building open, allowing Benkei to enter easily with the 2 other bladers following him.  
Madoka, who had been sorting out some things on the shelf behind the counter, looked like she had nearly jumped out of her skin and turn on instinct to either glare or lecture at who had thrown the doors open so violently.  
But her voice was entirely cut off and she froze when she saw Benkei standing there with Gingka limp in his arms, Zyro, Ren and Shinobu on either side of him and looking like they had seen better things in their lifetimes.  
"Oh my god..." Madoka whispered, shakily making her way out from behind the counter and placing a hand over her mouth in shock, "What... W-what did...?... Why is he...?"

They saw how desperately she was trying to form words, how confused she was and the fear that filled those kind turquoise - she was no different in reaction than the rest of them were.  
"We found him in an alleyway before he fell unconscious.." Benkei explained, watching as she slowly approached with a shaking frame that could only be fear, "He's not doing to good.."  
Madoka opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a distorted sort of whine that sounded like it had come from some sort of animal that they couldn't identify, but it frightened them.  
Barely anyone could speak as they all watched Madoka, hearing the soft footsteps of Maru coming down the stairs to see what exactly the commotion was all about.  
"Hey Chief, what's going-" Maru's sentence immediately stopped and faded once she saw the redhead in Benkei's arms, lavender eyes widening in fear at the sight before her and stopping on the 4th stair up.  
Madoka's eyes widened once she had heard Maru's voice, turning towards her in alarm as she feared the pinkette's reaction.  
"Maru.." Madoka began, swallowing and able to gain the small Mechanic's attention, "Go get his bed ready, okay?..." Maru stared at her teacher for several moments before shakily nodding, hurrying back up the stairs and out of sight to do as she was told.

Swallowing once more, Madoka turned around and looked at the younger bladers - they could see the tears in her eyes that she was desperately trying to hold in before speaking.  
"Go tell Tsubasa, okay?" She said, trying to be strong and not break down in front of them all from the state that Gingka was in, "Go to the WBBA and tell him."  
Zyro, Ren, and Shinobu said nothing and simply nodded, following Madoka's orders and racing out the doors of the B-Pit which they had previously entered from.  
They didn't stop for anything as they made their way to the WBBA headquarters, where they knew the Director would most likely be, perhaps making the preparations for the next battle in the tournament of which was the least important thing of all at this point.  
All they could really say, was that they were terrified for Gingka - after watching him cough up maybe half a lung full of blood and collapsing, they didn't know if he was going to be alright.  
But Zyro was the only one who was beginning to clue in on all of this, after hearing those last words Gingka had said to him before he fell into an unconscious state in nearly the blink of eye.

No...

He couldn't mean that...

It wasn't true..

But then again, he had believed everything that Gingka had said to him up to this point was the truth - maybe none of what he said even was.  
They were had slipped through the crack in the sliding doors to the WBBA building, not waiting for them to even open up fully before heading inside and racing to the elevator despite several worker's protests of not to run in the halls; though it wasn't entirely their place to say so as they did sometimes themselves.  
The 3 young bladers were sketchy while in the elevator, Ren resorting to biting the skin around her nails in an effort not to freak out where she stood.  
The moment the elevator hit the floor where Tsubasa's main office was, all 3 of them pushed through the doors of the elevator before they were open, ignoring the stinging in their lungs from running so much and the numbness in their legs as they threatened to give out if they were pushed any further than deemed necessary.  
Though they ignored their bodies' protests and hurried to the Director's office, bursting through the sliding doors much to both Tsubasa's and Hikaru's dismay.

Both of them turned and looked at the the younger bladers as they hurried into the room, greatly confused on why they would barge in all of a sudden.  
"Zyro?" Tsubasa questioned, not standing up from his chair, "What are you all doing here?"

"Its about Gingka, Director!" Ren began, forgetting about catching her breath and instead focused on explaining what in the world was happening, "Something is _really_ not right with him..."  
Hikaru looked at the blond with a concerned and confused expression, worry coming to her eyes.  
"What's wrong?" The bluenette asked, "Did something happen to him?"  
Shinobu was the next to speak, trying not to let his panting overcome his ability to.  
"Zyro came to us and said... That we had to find him..." The light-haired blader explained as best as he could, "But when we got there... He could barely even walk and he coughed up a bunch of... He coughed up blood and then he..."  
Zyro had been biting his lip up until this point, and out of fear that it was going to tear through the skin and bleed did he stop and try to speak.  
"He fell unconscious, and we brought him to the B-Pit!..." He said quickly, though it was enough for Tsubasa and Hikaru to understand, "And, and Madoka told us to come tell you because something could be seriously wrong with him and we're all freaking out!"  
Tsubasa's golden-brown eyes widened, a look of shock on his face from this news that he had not expected to get that day.  
"Do you know what's wrong with him?" He asked firmly, standing up from his chair and looking at the 3 younger bladers. Ren shook her head, barely even able to stay still and scratching at her right cheek like she had been a few times from the irritation in it. "We have no idea!" She said, a panicked look in her eyes, "But... He was coughing up blood - like.. _A lot_ of blood.."

Hikaru gasped, covering her mouth and averting her eyes at the mere thought of that happening to Gingka.  
Tsubasa was almost the same way, except he was the one who had thoughts racing through his mind almost like Zyro; was this why Gingka had been acting so strange for the past couple of weeks.  
"Okay..." The silverette said, swallowing the bile that had come up into his throat, "I'll contact Madoka as soon as- Ugh!"  
The Director was immediately cut off as soon a some sort of high-pitched frequency filled the room, causing all of them to reach up and cover their ears from the deafening noise that could've seriously damaged their hearing.  
It went almost as soon as it came, and was instead replaced with the loud noise of static on a TV screen whenever it wasn't working properly.  
The 5 of them all turned and looked at the large television that had always been on the wall behind Tsubasa's desk, the formally blank, ebony screen now screeching with static that could've blasted their eardrums had it been any louder.  
And all at once did it quit, flashing quickly before coming to a screen that was almost entirely dark - it was nearly impossible to see even the outline of the person that stood in the center of the screen, their face covered in darkness and approximately being shown from the top of their torso up.  
Static roamed the edges, giving it a soft humming sound that irritated them slightly, but only added a much more frightening tone to a child-like giggle that contained a malicious joy.

"Well, isn't this exciting?..." Said the man from the other side of the screen, his voice only slight distorted every now and then by the static that danced across the TV like tiny snowflakes, "Here you are, almost all together... And you don't know _anything_ about what is happening to your dear friend..."  
Their eyes widened as they stared at the screen, all frozen in place as they looked upon the one person that they couldn't identify at all - but they did have the slightest clue of who exactly he could be.  
"What do you mean?" Tsubasa demanded, "Is this about Gingka?!"

"Who else could it _possibly_ be about, Tsubasa Otori?.."

A chuckle was heard from the other side of the screen as Tsubasa's eyes widened perhaps even further.  
He would've questioned how he knew his name, but almost everybody did - so it wasn't a surprise.

"You don't think your dear friend has been acting strange for no reason, now do you?" His voice was mocking, something that was unlike anything they had ever heard before and yet something they heard everyday, seemingly impossible to exist.  
"What are you doing to him?" Ren demanded, narrowing her brown eyes.  
"So you don't know?" The man on the other side of the screen asked, amusement in his voice, "Well, then again, what was I supposed to expect from pathetic, innocent little children like yourselves?.. Though I wouldn't use the second term for too long, especially you, Zyro Kurogane.."  
Zyro gasped softly when he heard his name, his pupils slightly dilated as he stared at the screen out of shock, fear, and confusion.  
"We'll see what happens when you discover the truth..." He said from the other side of the screen, "How _innocent_ you'll be when you find that there is _nothing_ you can do to save him."  
Tsubasa narrowed his eyes, clenching his fits at his side.

"Who are you?!" The Director demanded, grinding his teeth together to suppress his anger at the words coming out of this person's mouth.  
"Who am _I_?.." The other asked, a hint of a giggle in the undertone of his voice that sounded anything but human, "As far as any of you should know, my name is Alcorin.."  
Hikaru's eyes widened, staring at the screen just as the rest of them were.  
"Alcorin?.." She repeated, slightly confused. A giggle was heard from the other side of the screen, the other - now known as Alcorin - seemingly lifting his hand to his mouth perhaps to prevent himself from bursting out in a creepy laugh.  
"Quite.." He said in a charming voice that was also deliciously cruel, "And that is the name you shall remember once I bring your little Gingka Hagane to his _end_... Looks like we'll all see if you can get to me before that happens.. But until then..."  
Alcorin tilted his head slightly, the very dim light catching the small, cruel glare of his crimson red eyes for only a moment - a moment that struck Zyro's heart like an ax.

"I'll be waiting..."

In the blink of the eye, the screen turned off and went blank, leaving them all in total and utter silence that nearly terrified them all.  
"What... What was that?..." Hikaru questioned weakly, suddenly speechless and barely able to form words now at this point.  
Out of the anger that he tried to keep in, Tsubasa turned around and slammed his fist on his desk, a dull ache protruding from his knuckles to around his wrist and no further, but he could honestly care less.  
"I don't it, what did he mean?..." Shinobu questioned, looking towards Ren who seemed just as confused as he did, "What about you Zyro?"  
The light-haired blader's light green eyes turned towards the Fire Blader, who didn't respond as he simply stared straight ahead of him.  
"Zyro?..." Shinobu repeated, suddenly concerned for his friend.

But Zyro didn't hear him, standing there and feeling like his entire body had suddenly gone numb as he felt it several times, a sense of dread planting in the bottom of his stomach and sprouting into a feeling of fear, disgust, a feeling that he had never felt before in his life.

 _"-Once I bring little Gingka Hagane to his end..-"_

Those words echoed in his head over and over again, everything around him beginning to dissolve and close in on him with the darkness slowly rolling in like a fog from out on sea.  
The feeling of being suffocated, closed in, the darkness surrounding him just as it had done once before.

No...

That couldn't be...

Run... Run... Run, dammit!...

That couldn't be it, that couldn't be...

Gingka couldn't be...

That had to be a lie, he was lying...

But even Zyro knew that it wasn't a lie.  
His breath shook as he watched the darkness surrounding him, unable to move as he stayed frozen in place and unable to feel anything as he remained helpless where he stood.

 _"Remember what I said..."_

No...

No...

No...

"Zyro?"

Reality suddenly came back up him all at once, the darkness and the numbness fading away into nothing as it brought everything back to see Ren and Shinobu standing in front of him, and Tsubasa and Hikaru looking at him in concern from the corner of his eye.  
"Zyro, are you alright?" Ren asked, a concerned look in her brown eyes as she carefully observed her friend.  
Slowly did Zyro begin to shake his head, taking a step back as his entire being shook with his heart falling under a curtain of realization that he felt so stupid for not realizing before...

How could he have not noticed?...

How could he have believed Gingka's words when he said that he was okay?...

How had been so naive?

Zyro shook his head, and fled the room before any of them could stop him.  
"Zyro!" Both Ren and Shinobu called out in unison, surprised and confused at the ginger-ravenette's sudden actions - and out of pure instinct, did they chase after him and out of Tsubasa's office, leaving the other 2 in there with their silence.  
"Zyro!" Shinobu called, Ren following him as they hurried through the halls in the direction that they had hoped the Fire Blader had gone.  
Fortunately enough, they were correct with their guess when they rounded the corner and witnessed their friend facing the wall with his clenched against it - it was evident that he had punched it out of his frustration.  
"Zyro, are you okay?" Ren asked, both of them hurrying up the Fire Blader and looking at him with concern.

"That's what he meant..." Zyro muttered, his voice shaky as he let his hand slide off the wall and hang limply beside him, "This is he meant when he said..."

"Zyro?..." Shinobu repeated, the name of the Fire Blader echoing in the hall like a ghost that had lost its way and now roamed with no hope of salvation, "What are you talking about?.. What do you mean?"  
His breathing was shaky as he looked up from down at the ground, biting the inside of his lip as every hair on the back of his neck stood up on end and his heart beat in his chest like a caged animal desiring to be let out.  
This was the truth that Gingka had been keeping from him for so long.. A truth that he now saw he may not be able to handle - and for all his existence upon his earth, he wished he had never known.  
Then again, his dreams _were_ never wrong...  
Zyro took a deep breath in, and turning to the two of his best friends with tear-filled blue eyes that had previously been more innocent than anything they had seen in their lifetimes, he forced out the words that could've had the ability to freeze their hearts and stop them where they beat.

"He's dying, Shinobu." Zyro said, "Gingka's dying..."

* * *

 **Well, there's the big reveal after thirteen chapters. Many of you who haven't already read this story on DeviantArt may have expected it, and if you did, then you were right! But don't worry, we're definitely not ending it here, because there's a lot more to come, and all the feels are just gonna get worse.**

 **If you believe that. Which you should. Because they do. X3 Thanks for reading this far, and stick around for more!**


	15. Chapter 14 - Unfeeling

Chapter 14 - Unfeeling

* * *

Tsubasa had brought the Bridge To The Future tournament to an abrupt halt, much to the dismay of many bladers and the ex-DNA Bladers who - of course - of had been given an explanation as to why.  
Nobody had been given an explanation, the only excuse that Tsubasa had given was a claim that something very urgent had been brought up and would need his immediate attention.  
Maybe was because he didn't want to draw that much attention towards the situation at hand, that he wanted to keeps the number of people who knew about Gingka's condition to as small a number as possible.

Madoka, of course, had not had the strength to argue against that and merely agreed with that decision.  
She had done the favor of calling the hospital over to the B-Pit as soon as she and Benkei had gotten the unconscious redhead into his room and into his bed, and where he lay motionless, his face entirely pale as if he were...

She had watched as the paramedics came in, bringing in a heart monitor and a mask with one of those air bags to get him breathing properly again.  
There were only 3 paramedics that had come in, hooking him up to the heart-monitor without causing a disturbance in his being that could put him in any worse condition, watching the monitor as his heart beats were shown to be 3 seconds apart from each other - that terrified Madoka to the core of her very soul, though she said nothing as she stood there, trying to be strong and not letting the tears fall from her turquoise eyes.

Benkei and Maru had given her some space as she watched the paramedics do their work, able to get Gingka breathing fairly normally again but that was about the most that they could do.  
"He should be fine, for now." One paramedic said, his name tag reading 'Seth' in black and bold letters, looking up towards Madoka while his 2 partners began to pack up several things, "We aren't going to risk moving him, since it could have serious consequences on his heart."

Madoka swallowed the lump in her throat, sniffing softly before speaking.

"Is he going to be okay?" She asked timidly, cursing herself from her weak self.  
"I won't say for sure," Seth replied, "Signs are showing that he could be a coma.. We're not entirely sure what could be causing his heart to be slowing down, but we're doing all that we can."  
The 2 watched as the other paramedics left the room, their job done and going down to wait for their 3rd partner in their trio.  
"We'll keep the monitor here so that you can watch his condition and see if it worsens," He said, "If he starts hyperventilating, do everything you can to calm him down, and if anything else happens, please call us.."  
All Madoka could really do was nod, and even through her tear-stricken eyes that so desperately wanted to make her fall to the floor and break down where she stood she could see through his eyes at the truth that rattle around in his mind - he likely wasn't going to make it.  
All Seth did was wish her a good day, leaving the room and her in complete silence that was only broken every few seconds by the heart monitor.

It might as well been the sound of the whole world collapsing upon itself, as Benkei had partially described to her what had happened in that alleyway when they had gone after him.  
How could she have not realized until Zyro told her that something was seriously wrong with Gingka?  
How could they have not been more concerned when he started acting the way he had been, why had she not chased after him after he had snapped at her and ran out?...  
She didn't know herself, but she was unable to stop the flow of tears that streamed down her face as she looked down at the pale face of the man she had known for most of her life.

She let out a shaky sigh, the tears streaming down her face with the inability to stop them.  
That's when the sobs started, trying to stifle her cries of anguish but finding herself unable to hold it all in - it was then that she let the flood gates break open as she fell to her kneels and buried her face in her arms, her cries muffled by the blanket.  
She wept until her head ached, her eyes stinging with the tears that she wasn't able to hold in any longer, her voice growing hoarse and her cries of anguish calming down until she could barely be heard at all.  
But as that happened, she felt 2 hands on either of her shoulders from behind, feeling the gruff texture of them and yet the gentleness that she received from 2 men.  
Only one was comatose.  
Shaking, Madoka looked over her shoulder's in the golden-brown eyes of Tsubasa, a somber look on his face as tried to comfort the brunette - Madoka only took a second before leaping over and clinging to his shirt, much to Tsubasa's surprise though he didn't push her away.

Carefully did he wrap his arms around her, gently rubbing her back as she cried into his shirt; throughout the 5 years that Gingka had been gone from Metal Bey City Tsubasa had been as good a friend to Madoka as he could. He had been her shoulder to cry on, her best friend that she'd go to when something went wrong - he even let her braid his hair once before he cut it.  
Yet even through their friendship, Tsubasa had always been able to see that Madoka's heart belonged to Gingka, even if his did not belong to her - Gingka and Madoka had been some of the best of friends, and now she stood here, unable to do anything as the redhead lay unconscious, possibly comatose.  
Zyro and the others had come with him, Maru doing the favor of calling over Kite and Eight because of an 'emergency', since it was the most she could say without giving up what had happened.  
The brothers had obliged, meeting the 3 other bladers - their friends, their teammates - at the B-Pit.  
Yet they all noticed, as the rest of them did, that Zyro was unusually silent from his normally cheery and upbeat self.

They could all feel it.

The aura that came from him, tainted with despair that only showed through his eyes that looked like they had just witnessed something that they should never have seen in the first place.  
Though perhaps that was true. He the short time span of not even an hour had he seen and discovered things that he wished he had never known about.  
"Zyro, would you mind telling me and my brother what's going on?" Kite asked, looking the Fire Blader in the eyes of which seemed so much more carefree just yesterday when Shinobu had defeated Spike Bourne.  
But perhaps that was how fast things could change.  
Zyro seemed about to answer, only to find that he was unable to, barely able to form words after the realization that had punched him in the throat not a half hour ago. The realization that Gingka was dying.  
Perhaps dying since they had saved him from the DNA's clutches, or maybe even before that - he didn't know.  
"I..." Zyro began, trying to form the words and put them into an actual sentence, "I don't... I don't think I can, Kite.."  
Kite looked at him with a confused expression, yet there was still concern in those eyes of his that made him wonder exactly what was wrong with Zyro. He had never seen him act this way before - none of them had.

"H-he's upstairs..." Maru stuttered, looking towards the 5 bladers that stood in their small group, "I-if you want to see him.."  
"See who?" Eight questioned, looking at the pinkette of who was also about his age, "What's happening?"  
Benkei swallowed, sighing silently as he knew that he could not explain such a thing to a child as small as Eight - he knew Maru had a hard time understanding what was going on at first as well, but she quickly learned what this was all about.  
Ren placed a gentle hand on Zyro's shoulder, though she was unable to get him to make full eye contact with her before they all headed for the stairs - Zyro was the one at the front, not saying a word as they headed up to the living quarters of the B-Pit.  
They approached where they knew Gingka's room was, hearing Madoka's sobs of anguish growing louder as they did - but they all heard Zyro's breath hitch when they came to stand in the doorway, seeing the brunette before comforted by the Director whom had arrived along with them.  
Tsubasa looked towards them with his golden-brown eyes, gently petting Madoka's hair as he held her in her arms. His eyes gestured over to the bed of where the redhead lay, his breathing normal yet with a soft wheeze to it.

All of their eyes widened when they saw Gingka there, his face deathly pale and the only sign of life from being his weak breathing, and the beep of the heart monitor that only sounded every 3 seconds - way farther apart than it should be.  
Shinobu glanced over at the Director, who simply nodded before leading Madoka out of the room, who's sobbing had calmed down and was now wiping her eyes on her sleeve.  
"What happened to him?" Eight asked, unsure of what exactly he should say at this point in time. Kite's eyes went to Zyro, as did Ren and Shinobu's and soon following was Eight. The ginger-ravenette shook his head for a moment, biting his lip in a pattern that should've drawn blood.  
"He's dying..." Zyro said with a solemn tone, dripping with the despair and realization that had come to him. Kite drew in a silent gasp, eyes widening and staring at the Fire Blader in shock.  
"He's what?..." The brunette questioned, though establishing in his head about what he had just heard Zyro say.  
"He's dying, Kite..." Zyro repeated, looking towards the Leviathan Blader slightly. Kite would've said something if he had had the wits too, all color draining from his face as he paled at this new statement - though it would definitely explain a few things.

He gently place a hand on Eight's head as he placed a hand on his coat with his small fingers - Eight may have been just a child, but even he knew what death was and how terrifying it could be, since his and his brother's aunt had died a year prior to Zyro arriving in Metal Bey City.  
"H-he told me a few times..." Zyro said, looking down with sorrowful eyes upon the comatose Legendary Blader of who he had come to know as a friend, "I just didn't notice until now... Its what he meant on the day when the tournament began..."

"You mean when he said that he 'might not be there again'?..." Ren questioned, looking at her friend with wide brown eyes.  
Zyro could only really nod.  
"Yeah..." He said, "Its worse because I knew he was counting on me to figure it out, and now..."  
Shinobu placed a hand on Zyro's shoulder, trying to calm him down even though he knew it wouldn't likely work.  
"We all should've noticed, Zyro.." The light-haired duelist said, looking down at the redhead who was still unconscious, and would be for a long time.  
They knew that Zyro was likely blaming himself for this, for not knowing what was happening to Gingka beforehand - he had asked Gingka the exact question of what was happening to him only a couple days ago, and he had ended up believing him again when he had said he was alright.

He was far from alright.

And maybe it was all because Zyro had not noticed it sooner than he did.

Maybe it was because he had foolishly believed those words when he had been so horrifyingly sure of what was happening to the Legendary Blader. And in the end, he had been right.  
For it was only then that he realized Gingka may have been telling them all nothing but lies - lies that they had all believed...

* * *

"I don't understand this!" Genjuro exclaimed in irritation, biting the stem in his mouth in half, "The tournament's been put on hold and the Director isn't giving an explanation as to why?!"

"Be calm, Genjuro." Kira said solemnly, more relaxed than the rest of them were, "Surely there's a reason for this sudden news, and I do hope its good." Spike growled, clenching his fist by his side while gritting his teeth.  
"It better be." He growled, "Or else we won't get the chance to pound those WBBA Bladers into the ground!"  
Kira simply grunted, putting his hand on his hip as he gazed at his teammates with his one golden eye that was not covered by his eye patch.  
"Don't worry, my friends.." The multicolor-haired Blader said solemnly, "I'm sure all of it will be explained sooner or later... And I trust that none of you will try to find answers by yourselves - you know the reputation we already have."

"But Master Kira-" Yoshio began, but was cut off by their leader.

"No buts." Kira said firmly, his golden eye flashing dangerously with a menacing gleam that frightened even them, "We will wait for an explanation to come of why the tournament has come to a halt. Until then, none of you will try to force answers out of anyone... If we're ever going to be Japan's Representatives, we must at least hold some sort of good reputation with Japan."

"Yes Master Kira." They all said in unison through their respect towards the Blader of who was much more powerful than they were.  
Looking over them all one last time with his piercing gaze, Kira turned and headed towards the sliding doors that would allow him to leave the room.  
But just as they slid open and he was about to walk through the doorway, he peered back over his shoulder with his one eye.  
"And behave yourselves.." The multicolor-haired blader added, before he walked out of the room and left them all in silence.  
It was only after a few moments did Captain Arrow finally speak what was all on their minds.

"He's not going to follow his own words, is he?" The dark bluenette questioned, raising an eyebrow under his mask.

"Probably not.." Baihu answered, brushing his barely even black bangs out of his eyes, only for them to fall back into place...

* * *

Alcorin was always eerily excited whenever things went his way, as his 'pet' had noted with the short time she had been there with him. That child-like giggle of his echoed frequently in her ears as she watched them, staring at Zyro Kurogane, standing beside the bed of where Gingka Hagane lay comatose and watching as he slowly broke apart from the inside.  
It was such a joyous thing to him that it could have sickened her, had she actually been able to feel any real emotion.  
Though that time was behind her as she stood behind him, watching him as she silently awaited the orders that may or may not come, though still she waited.  
She could've grown tired of Alcorin's giggling, watching as his shoulders and fingers twitched every now and then from the sheer emotion of being unable to keep entirely still for too long.  
But she had grown strangely used to it, not caring whether he giggled as he watched Zyro stand there will little to no words, or watched as Madoka - the owner of the B-Pit who he knew had feelings for Gingka that were only in one special place in her heart - cried into Tsubasa's chest.

It was the pure fact that they were suffering, and knew that they could do nothing to stop Gingka's, that gave him the fire that enlightened his darkened and heartless soul.  
"Well, I guess Zyro Kurogane's finally figured it out..." Alcorin said with a small chuckle that reflected upon the part of him that had almost completely overtaken the soul that 'he' had controlled, "So I suppose the cat's out of the bag, as they say. Would you not agree, my pet?"  
His golden-brown eyes, just lightly tinted with their red highlights, looked at her form over his shoulder, his dark blue hair moving along with him.

"Yes..." She said emotionlessly, no trace of care in that meaningless voice of hers that had once been able to show emotion and concern and worry for the bladers that she knew very well were suffering because of Alcorin...  
But it wasn't her place to feel anymore.  
A small chuckle escaped the man, bringing a hand up to his mouth slightly as it ready to stop himself from bursting out laughing like the sociopath that he was.

"Of course..." He said with a small smirk, "You've always agreed with me, haven't you?" The dark bluenette turned, walking down the few stairs that lead up to the large platform he stood on in order to watch the screens and making his way over to his 'pet'.  
"It's so amusing..." He said softly, a voice that was a menacing whisper as he took her chin in one hand and looked at her, "How something so small could turn you into something that no longer feels any type of true emotion for ones that you cared and may have not cared about..."  
Their faces were close to each other, normally too close for her comfort if she had known any better.  
All Alcorin did was chuckle and let go of her chin, turning away.  
"I'm surprised you do not 'him' up to me anymore, my pet..." He said with a coo in his voice that could've been sweet if he had not been so cruel, "I know you are not quite one to simply let go of something so easily.. A trait that still remains from who you previously were in personality and soul.."

"I do not because you ordered me not too..." She said solemnly, easily remembering the words that he had said to her not too long ago, "I will not disobey you... But I must ask, and hope to receive an answer. Do you care for 'him' at all?.."  
There was a silence between the two, a silence that had been there and was all too familiar to them from the past couple of weeks - a silence that was definitely no stranger to both master and pet.  
"Perhaps..." He finally answered, his voice dripping with the venom from the mere thought at caring for anyone, and yet the thought of finally having _him_ back pleased him beyond anything, "In truth... I care about _no one_ except him.. Even I don't care about him that much anyway.. Its almost comforting telling you this..."

A small giggle escaped his lips, "Because you and me are the same in a sense... Unable to feel any sort of emotion towards _anyone_.. Even each other."  
With a giggle did he walk back to the wide platform of which he always stood on, his golden-brown eyes retreating back to the screens of which he had spent so much time watching through the weeks and the possible months.  
"Gingka Hagane is dying.." He said with a pleased tone, "And now they know there is nothing they can do to stop me from being his demise..."

Something in his left hand glowed for a moment, the faint light dissolving into nothing as he clutched something in the palm of his hand.  
He lifted his arm up, gazing with crimson red eyes at the small, solid sphere that fit in his palm, his fingers closing around it in a perfect circle - it was the color of a deep blood red, a small warmth pulsating from it like the beat of a heart, if anyone had ever really felt the beat of a heart within their hand.  
"Well..." Alcorin began, his eyes glowing the demonic color of red that showed the 'him' he had been born as, "Looks like things are about to get a bit more interesting..."

He enclosed his fingers tightly upon the sphere in his hand, and with a small, malicious giggle from the bottom of his cruel soul - he squeezed...

* * *

Telling Madoka what was happening to Gingka may have very well been the hardest part of everything - she had run out of tears to cry when she had cried to Tsubasa, who still stood there with her as they all sat in the room.  
When Zyro had told her, solemnly at that, she looked like she was about to break down - but all she could do was simply stare forward and bury her tear-stained face in her hands with bloodshot eyes, forcing down the scream of agony that threatened to rip itself from her throat.  
Maybe she did it so that she wouldn't feel weak, or maybe it was the purpose of not scaring the younger bladers any further.  
Eight had left the room from the aura that was left behind in there, a cold and damp one that tugged at sanity and ripped apart all reason - Zyro sat in a chair near the corner, along with Ren and Shinobu while an awkward silence simply passed between them in a back and forth pattern. Barely anybody said anything.  
It killed Ren and Shinobu inside to watch Zyro sit there without saying a word, watching as he struggled not to cry when he glanced over at the comatose redhead, keeping in the fact that he was breaking inside from the rhythmic beat of the heart monitor, still 3 seconds apart from each other.

Madoka sat in a chair beside his bed, Tsubasa standing by her side with a hand on her shoulder as he calmed her down, though his eyes still flickered over to Gingka every few minutes.  
It had been a shock to him when he had heard about what was happening to Gingka, what had been happening to him the whole time he had been in Metal Bey City since the DNA incident.  
He had realized it not to long after Zyro had found out, and had pieced together Alcorin's words of what was happening to the redhead, to his - their - friend. He had been angry.

Why wouldn't he had been angry?

How could someone be so calm, so _casual_ about the fact that they were killing a man? How could someone know that they were slowly bringing a life to its end and just pass it off as something that happened everyday.  
Well... Death _did_ happen everyday, and it was a tragic thing at that, but-...

Why Gingka?

Why them?

Those thoughts were continuously shattered by the soft breaths that Gingka let out, a small wheeze coming along with them.  
The longer he listened to it, the more it sounded like it was worsening. The more it sounded like his breath quickened, gasps of paining coming along with his quick and short breaths.  
But only then did he realize that was just a reality.

Madoka's eyes widened as she quickly stood up from her chair, hurrying to the redhead as his closed his eyes tightly, his fingers clenching at the bed sheets and his breath quickening, the heart monitor sounding off frequently.  
The younger bladers turned and hurried over at the sudden commotion, unable to do anything but watch as Gingka silently suffered in his coma, his breathing sounding blocked and his heartbeat beating faster than it previously had - only it worried them further instead of relieving them any.  
"Gingka!..." Madoka said as she knelt by the Legendary Blader's side, placing a hand over his as he gripped the sheets tightly in his fingers.  
His chest rose and fell quickly as he hyperventilated, all of them unable to do anything as they watched the redhead suffer, dark feelings of helplessness shadowing them all.

"Gingka..." Zyro whispered softly, fighting off the tears that came to his eyes so that they didn't show - as long as he could help it, he would save his tears for when he was alone.  
Madoka gently squeezed hand, doing her best to wrap her fingers around his despite him gripping the sheets so hard.  
Slowly did Gingka began to calm down, his breathing softening to where it had previously been before he had had his little 'episode', his fingers unwrapped themselves a bit from clenching at the sheets and allowed Madoka to somewhat entwine their fingers - they all listened and watched as the heart monitor calmed down and went back to heartbeats 3 seconds apart from each other, or it may have been more for all they knew.  
Once more did a peaceful look cross his face, as if none of it had ever happened in the first place. His breathing was still with a small wheeze to it, deep breaths yet soft. Tears would've come to Madoka's eyes had she had any left to cry, so she just sat there, gently holding her friend's hand as he lay with perhaps no hope of waking up from his coma.

Even Zyro, Ren, and Shinobu stood there in silence, the only sound that really even reached them being the soft beat of the heart monitor.  
Ren looked over towards Zyro, who simply stood there without saying a word.  
The Fire Blader bit his lower lip, a metallic taste in his mouth that may have been from the fact that he hadn't drank anything in awhile.  
But he just couldn't get the thought of Gingka dying out of his head - none of them could. Tsubasa gently placed a hand on Madoka's back, just above her shoulder blades as she sat there beside the redhead, gently holding his hand even though she knew that he was incapable of holding hers - at this point, it was the only amount of comfort that she really had left in this situation.  
His fingers felt cold, colder than they normally should with average human body temperature, and that terrified her.  
How long had he been like this, exactly?

How long had he been suffering like this and covering it up so that they wouldn't notice?

Madoka looked down at his sleeves, of which had been rolled up previously before he had rolled them down.  
Though she did have to wonder why, as it was almost the middle of summer and even someone like him who could adapt to all climates in several different ways - nobody just wore their sleeves down and pulled their scarf up around their neck during the summer and just lived with it...  
Though maybe it was because of his body temperature, one that was so unnatural to have during the summer...  
Though maybe that was why he had been so pale, or maybe..

All Madoka could was whimper, sighing with a shaking body as she silently held his hand and let Tsubasa comfort her as best as he could.  
"Zyro..." Shinobu said softly, looking over at his friend with his light green eyes, "Your lip's bleeding."  
Zyro's eyes widened at that statement, not noticing the metallic taste and the slightly sticky liquid substance in his mouth.  
He lifted his fingers to his bottom lip, holding it there for a moment before he pulled it away and saw the small amount of blood that was there.  
Zyro's breath shook, his vision going out of focus as he remembered the large amount of blood that Gingka had coughed up when they found him before he collapsed into his comatose state.  
Slowly did Zyro shake his head and press his fingers to his lip once more to prevent it from bleeding before he left the room, unable to handle being in there any longer.

Ren was the one who followed after him while Shinobu offered to stay behind to keep and eye on the Legendary Blader in case anything happened...  
Though they knew that it was very unlikely he would get any better in the short time span of merely an hour or two.  
All the light-haired blader did was stand there silently, watching as Madoka would've shed tears for her old friend if she could, listening as his heartbeats continued to be 3 seconds apart from each other, and each time, he swore it was just a semi-second longer...

Maru had retreated to her room after she had seen Chief Madoka and the Director out in the hall, watching as her teacher cried uncontrollable tears in a state that absolutely terrified the pinkette.  
She had never seen Madoka so... So... Broken before.  
She had listened from her door as Madoka's sobs calmed down, faintly hearing her footsteps and sniffles from down the hall before they disappeared from her range of hearing altogether.  
Now she ws just left alone in silence, leaning against her door with no knowledge of what she should do next..  
But perhaps that was a lie.  
She did know what to do next. She would do what she was told to, what she _had_ to do. For now, she knew that it was time.

Placing her computer on her lap, she started it up and brought up the screen of which she had gone to many times during the last 2 weeks or so.  
She pressed a few buttons on her keyboard before waiting, and it - of course - did not take long for her to come face to face with the one she had vowed to devote her life too, not that it really ever came to that.  
The screen was still distorted, his face blurred and blanked out which gave her zero access to what he looked like at all - though she knew his name and who he was very well.

"Maru..." He said in the distorted voice caused by the low connection of the screen, "Its been awhile.."  
Maru simply nodded, swallowing the bile that had come up into her throat and shivering slightly as it went back down into her stomach.  
"I understand you have something for me?" He questioned, the static of the screen making it almost difficult to hear his words as he spoke them, but she had come to grow used to it and be able to make out what he was saying well enough.  
"Its happened..." She said seriously, trying to keep her cool as best as she was able too.  
"What's happened?" He questioned, his interest suddenly peaking at her words.

"'He' has fallen..." She said, putting emphasis on the word 'he' as she spoke, "It's unlikely he's going to wake up.."  
For many moments did she wait for a reply, and for many moments did she not get one, as if he were establishing her words and fitting everything together inside of his head.

"I see..." He said with a tone that she was unable to identify from the distortion of the microphone that he or may not have had; it was hard to tell.  
"So what are you trying to tell me, Maru?" He questioned, seeming to eagerly await her answer as what she was trying to tell him.  
Of course, since she was just a child, he often made her answer questions that he may have already known the answer to, either correcting her or not saying anything at all after she answered - but Maru would never say that she minded.  
Maru narrowed her eyes slightly, and said in a firm voice that even she - at 6 years old - rarely used.

"It's time." She said, before closing her laptop.


	16. Chapter 15 - Grounded

Chapter 15 - Grounded

* * *

The ex-DNA bladers had been right when they said that Kira probably wouldn't abide by his own words to them, but they didn't really need to know that.

He may give very firm and clear orders not to do something, like what he had just told them not to do, but that didn't mean he himself wouldn't do it.  
It was mainly because he didn't want them gaining any unwanted attention or for people to get a worse view on them they already had.  
He honestly did not want to take that chance. He had left where they were staying, silently walking along the sidewalk in Metal Bey City, solemnly piecing a few things together while, at the same time, watching where he was going - which had become quite an easy task for him.  
Tsubasa Otori had claimed that the tournament was being halted because something urgent had come up and would need his immediate attention, which must of meant that it was something that would cut off the tournament for quite awhile...

But what?

That thought wandered in his mind as he walked, yet making sure to watch where he was going.  
Maybe a relative of his was sick? It was never determined whether the Director had any relatives or not, but it was likely.  
Maybe one of the other WBBA's around Japan - specifically the Tokyo WBBA as they were in close contact with them - had gotten in contact and said that something had gone down there.  
But figuring out what it was would be another story..  
He knew that Madoka Amano - the owner of the B-Pit - was close enough to Director to probably know what was going on.  
Yet he knew better than to try and ask her what was going on, since she likely wasn't that fond of him anyway from how he had been on the same side as Doji and keeping Gingka prisoner for a few days - all he really knew was that said redhead had ended up in the hospital for a few days afterward.

But maybe... Maybe this was about him.

Maybe the tournament coming to a stand still had been because of something involving the Legendary Blader in question..  
But how Kira would get answers or proof to that was going to be hard.  
Growling under his breath from frustration, he looked back up to where he was going, his vision having gone out of focus for a moment - he had entirely forgotten exactly where he was going, if he was going anywhere, and his body seemed to gone into auto-pilot as he looked around and spotted the B-Pit only about a block or two away.  
Though that could just be because of his eye patch and it could actually be across the street, but he just assumed that his current vision was correct.  
The multicolor-haired blader sighed in annoyance, rubbing one of his temples while having his elbow propped on the palm of his opposite hand.  
Of all the places that he could've ended up, it just _had_ to be where he knew most of those WBBA bladers spent their time.  
They'd probably kill him - figuratively - if they saw him there, which being their arch-rivals in the BTF Tournament and for what he - they - had done to Gingka.

But even after what he did, after all the things that he and the rest of his team had done to them and their friends, Zyro had saved his life...  
He could've let him fall to his death much like Doji had afterwards, but he had jumped over the railing and grabbed his hand, knowing full well that he would probably go down with him, if it hadn't been for Yoshio.  
Kira shook that thought of his head.

He didn't care about Kurogane!

Sure, he didn't see him as much of an enemy anymore, and had even been grateful when Zyro had even bothered to show any sort of concern for him - not that he himself showed his gratitude - but that didn't mean they were friends, not in the slightest bit!  
His one golden eye looked back towards the B-Pit about 2 blocks away, eyeing the building up and down as if scanning it like he sometimes did with his 'eye-patch' during Bey battles.  
But this time, he spotted the front doors opening for someone to walk out, watching carefully and almost straining his vision just to make out who it was.

Shinobu Hiryuin.

The one he had also put in the hospital after their battle in Neo Battle Bladers.  
He still wondered if Shinobu had ever actually forgave him for that - probably not. He had never been on friendly terms with Shinobu. The multicolor-haired blader simply watched from afar as a result, watching as Shinobu stood outside of the door for several moments, leaning against the wall and pinching the bridge of his nose, as if to get rid of a headache.  
The light-haired blader let his head fall lightly back against the wall, staring aimlessly up towards the sky as if put in a trance by it - it was almost obvious that something was definitely on his mind, if not bothering him.  
Still, Kira watched closely - simultaneously keeping out of Shinobu's line of sight - as the Salamander Blader sighed, toyed with the necklace that hung around his neck a bit before slumping his shoulders and heading back inside the building.  
Now that was strange. Kira had seen the other blader somewhat frizzled before (if that was the word) but he had seen him look that distressed, despite not even really taking that much of a liking towards him or even barely knowing him. But then again, maybe ending up near the B-Pit wasn't such a bad thing after all.  
Maybe his conscious _was_ onto something with bringing him here.

Maybe this is where he could find the answers that he desperately wanted. However, getting them was going to be the annoying part of everything, since he knew that the WBBA bladers did not like him that much.  
Yet even so, Kira made his way across the streets for 2 blocks until he approached the Beyblade Shop, the reflection of the sun flaring off of the glass panels that were its outer walls.  
He tried to ignore it as he stood at the doors of the B-Pit, the sign reading 'CLOSED' save for the fact that he knew the door wasn't locked; but just to be polite - as he previously taught to be before he had ever joined the DNA - he lifted his hand and, with an inner sigh of irritation, knocked on the glass just loud enough so that somebody could maybe hear.  
The ex-DNA blader stood back and crossed his arms, waiting while tapping one of his fingers on his forearm.  
For several moments there was no one, and he stood there in silence as he strained his ears to see if he could hear anything even through the glass of the doors.

He knew that he could probably just walk in, seeing as how Shinobu evidently had just a few minutes ago when he had been watching him from 2 blocks away, but his conscious told him not too - whatever this feeling that his conscious was bringing upon him he had never felt before, not directly.  
But even so, he listened and waited.  
Seeing through the reflection in the glass at the pink-haired little girl that showed up on the stairs - he knew that she worked with Madoka, almost always by her side and if not hers than Zyro's and the others.  
He knew that she saw him, staring at him for a moment and fidgeting slightly before apparently calling up the stairs for someone.  
Kira did his best not to roll his one eye, still waiting for at least someone to open the door and let him know that it was okay to come inside.  
It was only a few moments later that he saw someone else come down the stairs, of who he recognized as the one that Zyro and the others often called 'Manager' - he believed that his real name was Benkei, so he had heard.  
The wider individual looked at Maru for a moment before his eyes flickered over to Kira himself, evidently not exactly the most pleased to see the ex-DNA blader.  
Kira stepped back a step and a half as the Manager came over and opened the door, looking down slightly at the multicolor-haired blader.

"What are you doing here, Kira?" He asked as kindly as he could manage, seeing as he was not that fond of the younger one that much.

"I did knock." Kira said plainly as he placed his hand on his hip, trying at least to be somewhat decent towards them.

"What are you here for?" Maru asked, looking out from behind the Manager's arm that was by his side.

"I merely have a question that I am looking for some answers too.." Kira vaguely explained. Benkei seemingly murmured something under his breath that Kira was incapable of hearing before he stepped back a bit.

"You can come in, I guess.." The purple-haired man said, glancing towards Maru to assure that she stepped aside as well so that Kira could be let in.  
"No funny business!" Maru said firmly before stepping out of the way as well.

"Uh, sure..." The multicolor-haired blader said a bit awkwardly, stepping inside of the building and hearing the Manager close the glass door behind him.  
It was sort of cooler in the building than it was outside, considering that it was almost the middle of the summer and the weather was bound to take a turn - though he chose not to focus on that for now and instead on his surroundings a bit.  
He had seen the building before, he had just never been there or near it at all - was almost weird.  
Kira watched as both Maru and Benkei kept their eyes on him, knowing that they very well did not trust him with being inside of the B-Pit, as they walked in front of Kira and looked at him with similar facial expressions - only Maru was definitely trying to look displeased with his presence, though her little girl cuteness (for Kira's lack of better wording) somewhat got in the way of that.  
"So, what's your question?" She asked, standing up on her tip-toes for a moment before back down on her heels.  
"And don't try to pry anything that's none of your business out of us either." Benkei reminded, crossing his arms.

Kira simply placed his hand on his hip, and rolled his opposite wrist in the feminine way that he tended to always do no matter who he was around.  
"Well, its simple." He began, "I'm looking for answer that everyone has been asking.. Why has the tournament come to a stand still?"  
It was at this that he got an interesting reaction from the both of them.  
Maru's face paled, a bead of sweat trailing down her head and biting her lip as she glanced over at the Manager, who in turn looked like he had just seen some sort of ghost. What, was it something that they didn't want him or anyone else to know about?  
Or was it just because he had been of the DNA and they had no idea whether they should actually say anything or not?  
Kira knew that the second option was most likely, but then why would they keep it a secret from almost everyone?  
That was something that didn't make sense.

The Bahamoote Blader raised his one visible eyebrow, looking back and forth from the two of them in interest.  
"Was there something that I said?" He asked blankly, seeing the possibility that he was on to something.  
"Uuuhh..." Maru choked out awkwardly, unsure of what to say to Kira's question.  
"I didn't come here to gather information for my teammates, if that's what you're thinking.." He said, "I came to know for myself.. They draw too much attention as it is.."

The Manager swallowed the lump in his throat, his eyes darting here and there as he tried to think of what and what not to say to the ex-DNA Blader of who he knew was a crafty one.  
How did they know that this wasn't some sort of trick that Kira was trying to pull on them to get to...  
"What is he doing here?" Came a voice from behind both Maru and Benkei, all of their eyes looking back towards Ren and Shinobu who had apparently heard them from upstairs. Shinobu glared at Kira with a look of what was almost disgust on his face, though he tried to keep his displeasure of Kira to himself rather than make it show - Ren on the other hand just stood there, scratching her cheek a little from irritation to the point where it as now turning a light red.  
Not a pink color, just light red.  
"I just came to ask a simple question, is all." The multicolor-haired blader said in an almost bored tone, trying not to show his annoyance or any of his derogatory feelings towards any of them.

"Which are?" Ren asked, looking at Kira intently and being the only one that was actually passive about him being there.  
"He, uh..." Maru began, swallowing the bile that had come up into her throat, "H-he wants to know w-why the tournament's been put on hold.."  
Once more, an interesting reaction. Both Ren and Shinobu's eyes widened and they looked at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say at this point in time. "W-well, why would you wanna know?.." Ren asked shakily.  
"Only everyone wants to know, Ren.." Kira said with a half roll of the eye, "I'm only here to get the answers that _I_ want.. I'm not interested in finding answers for anyone else.."  
The 4 of them all looked at each other, glancing at Kira now and then as they silently debated it between themselves on whether it was a good idea or not.  
They had no right to trust Kira, they didn't have too after all that he had done to the WBBA and their friends - but if what he said was true than it could be fine just to tell him.  
But what if he was lying and he would go tell the other ex-DNA bladers what was happening and use it to their advantage. But they weren't like that anymore, were they?

"He should know." Said yet another voice from the stairwell, none of them having heard the footsteps coming down the stairs and their eyes fixating towards Zyro, who stood there with what was almost a blank look in his eyes and a small red cut on his bottom lip from biting it earlier.  
"Zyro?" Shinobu questioned, looking at his friend in confusion.  
"He should..." The Fire Blader said in an almost subdued tone, glancing at Kira before turning and making his way back up the stairs.

All of their eyes followed the Ifraid Blader for a moment, looking at each other for a quick moment before just deciding to follow him.  
Though they made Kira be in the middle while heading up the stairs just so that they could an eye on him - the Bahamoote Blader did not object as he knew that they had absolutely no reason to trust him or to no be suspicious of him showing up there in search of answers to why the tournament had halted.  
Especially with his background that he had with the DNA.  
They all made their way to the upper floors, Zyro at the front of them while seemingly trying to hold back the tears that kept trying to form in his eyes. He would hate to cry in front of Kira of all people, much less than he would around his friends - in all honesty, he just hated to show weakness to people through his tears, hated feeling weak when they slid down his cheeks like the rain had just yesterday.

It was why - even with the burning fire that was so usually his soul, now reduced to a small flame among few cinders - he liked the rain.  
Because he, nor anyone else, could ever tell the difference between tears and the rain. Zyro simply went into the room of where he knew the answers to Kira question were, the other 4 standing behind Kira to let him go inside - from what they knew, it wasn't exactly their place to explain it to him. Even after the questioning look at he gave them, mixed with the annoyance that he had of all of them, they nudged him towards the room of which he eventually obliged to enter after a few moments.  
Before almost as soon as he walked inside, he stopped all the same at the sight before him.

Was... Was that..?..

"You wanted an answer?..." Zyro questioned, not looking towards the multicolor-haired blader as he stared down at the Blader laying comatose upon the sheets, the sound of the heart monitor filling their ears as the beats were unnaturally far apart and the soft wheezing sound that came as he breathed in and out, "This is your answer..."  
Slowly did Kira walk up beside Zyro, looking passively upon the deathly pale, unconscious face of Gingka Hagane.  
Kira looked at the Legendary Blader for several moments before his eye wandered over to Zyro, looking at the half-lidded, almost tearful look on his face, feeling that aura about him intensify with almost every passing moment.  
"He's dying, Kira..." The ginger-ravenette said to him, though it sounded more like it was to no one except himself.  
Like he had repeated it over and over again to himself that Gingka Hagane was dying, like he had repeated it to, what was likely only the few, people that knew about this a dozen times over just so that _they_ could fully understand it.

If anything, he likely did.  
A pitiful sight it was, one that Zyro's friends had likely been seeing for who knows how long, doing anything and everything they could to try and make him feel any better about the situation that was nothing to smile about.  
But even with that... Kira didn't care.  
He was not close to Gingka, nor had he even really cared about him either way whether an enemy or not.  
It was _not_ his place to even care that he was dying or not, that he was likely comatose with his heart slowing down, that he wouldn't be able to open his eyes and see them all one last time before actually leaving the world as he was.  
His one eye wandered over to Zyro again, looking at the expression that lay passive on his face like it had been glued there with super glue or something, haunting his usual cherry smile that nearly made him want to hurl.

But this... This was even more disgusting than that.  
Kira was a sadistic person, always finding a weird sort of joy in the pain of others, the suffering of others being the pleasure that tingled every inch of his body, but this...  
This was something that he just found sickening beyond anything else he had seen.. He had always seen the gross way that he cared about his friends so much, the way his smile and his eyes always burned with the same flames that made up his soul - now it was just a sorry sight to see.  
Kira simply scoffed, turning his head away from the Fire Blader in the slightest bit.

"Really, Zyro?" He asked, disgust lacing his voice, "I can't believe you're all making such a big deal out of this."  
Zyro's eyes widened before he looked over at Kira, who saw the displeased look on his face.  
How could Kira say that?!  
Yeah, he didn't know Gingka like he and the rest of them did, but that was no way to react!  
"Being cry babies about it isn't going to do anything, now is it?" The multicolor-haired blader said, looking over at Zyro once more, "It sickens me how heartbroken you all are... If your friends were actually friends they would try and 'cheer you up'-" Even Zyro could tell that he nearly vomited at saying that, "-instead of letting you sulk like a pathetic fool."

"You aren't helping, Kira." Shinobu said, standing in the doorway along with Maru, Benkei, and Ren, who all were obviously not amused by Kira's words.  
"I'm simply speaking the truth..." The Bahamoote Blader said with a shrug, rolling his wrist off to his side, "None of you are really helping him much, so I thought that I might at least _attempt_..."  
All of them looked at him with wide eyes, barely able to believe what exactly they were hearing, despite it being Kira.  
"I don't care about Gingka like the rest of you do..." Kira said plainly, "I got my answers, and that's all I came here for..."  
With no other words from his purple-coated lips before he left the room, the 4 absently clearing a way for him so that he could pass and staring down the hall at him before he disappeared from their sight downstairs.

Silence was between them for who knew how long, Ren going over to Zyro who's eyes had been wide and his face pale as he had listened to Kira talk.  
The blond gently placed a hand on his shoulder, knowing full well that that really wasn't what Zyro needed to hear...  
But at the same time, maybe it was the exact thing that he needed to hear.. She said nothing as she watched the unfallen tears come to Zyro's eyes, and watched as he once more forced them down so that he could cry them all later.  
Still... Zyro deserved to cry as long as he needed, since there would probably only be more tears for him later on that he would have to keep in like he was doing now...

* * *

Kira didn't care that Gingka was dying.

Not in the slightest bit.

He could've even cared less than he did if that was possible - yes, the Legendary Blader himself was suffering in one of the deepest of sleeps, his heartbeat slowing down so much that it was terrifying...  
But even so, he couldn't find the will to care at all about that. He walked absently down the street away from the B-Pit, knowing full well that what he ahd come to do was done.  
He knew the answer to why the tournament had been canceled, which had been (frighteningly) simple.  
He had just walked in, asked why the tournament had been brought to a stand still, and watched as they debated with each other until Zyro came down the stairs and made their decision for them.  
He had evidently bitten his lip earlier till it bled, been holding back tears that he had seemingly so badly been wanting to let out for what may have been the whole day. And Kira - who was purely a sadist - had just found it plain disgusting... And he didn't have the slightest clue as to why.

He would've expected to get some sort of pleasurable tingle like the sick human being he was, and he had, but it was different.  
Seeing Gingka Hagane comatose had not made him feel any better either.  
He didn't care about him, that much was certain with him. But there was just still one question in his mind that had manifested itself into being after he had left, a question that - maybe - Zyro and his friends were asking themselves as well.  
How did this even happen? He had seen the Legendary Blader when they had escaped from the DNA, known that he had been in the hospital for awhile because of his internal and physical injures, but... How?  
How, in such a short time that they had escape from the DNA, since the tournament had started and everything seemed to be going normally, was he suddenly dying on a bed in a coma that he might never wake up from anyway?

The multicolor-haired Blader growled to himself in irritation. Why was he thinking about this?!  
He had gotten the answers he was looking for, and that should've been enough, right? Why was he so concerned about this in the first place?  
Maybe... Maybe it was because...

 _The small taps of his socks on the edge of the chair, his legs swinging over the edge since he was too small to reach the ground yet...  
His eyes went to the door of the bathroom, it wasn't locked.. A soft dripping sound, evened out only by a second or two..._

 _"Mommy?..."_

 _Turned the doorknob that he could just reach, the door slowly creaking open on the hinges that needed to be oiled..._  
 _Water rising over the bathtub ever so gently and spilling over the side, the clear substance mixed with a tinge of red..._

 _"Mommy, are you okay?..."_

 _Too young to know as he carefully walked across the white tiles while simultaneously trying not to slip and fall on the bathwater that was barely even clear anymore as it was stained with red..._

 _His mother, laying in the bathtub in a position that looked like she was resting... Her eyes closed and her slumped against the white arch opposite of the faucet..._

 _Red, everywhere.. Cuts on her wrists... Her skin white.._

 _"Mommy?..."_

 _2 days had passed since the people had come for him... They took him away and he did not cry.. He did not understand as they took him away from the only family that he had..._

 _"Where's my mommy?..."_

 _He asked repeatedly, never receiving an answer... He asked again, seeing the look in the lady's eyes as she gazed at the toddler.. Where was mommy?..._

Kira stopped walking abruptly, his arm coming up and absently punching the pole that he had been about to walk into.  
His eyes were closed tightly for a moment, a pain coming from his hand as it quivered, pulling it away and slowly looking up towards the small dent that he had made in the hard, cold metal.  
His hand shook at his side, looking around slightly at the few people that had stopped to stare at him in confusion, worry, or shock.  
Dammit..  
His breath shook for a moment, like his wrist that he gently held in his other hand for a moment before continuing on his way, ignoring the several people staring at him and keeping his expression solemn.  
He didn't care about Gingka Hagane or Zyro Kurogane in the slightest bit, he swore he didn't.. He just understood the feeling somewhere on those lines..

 _"Go to him..."_...

* * *

Night had fallen upon Metal Bey City after what almost felt like years, the darkness plaguing them while gently being resisted by the street lamps and passing cares, but the stars and the moon that shone brightly on a surprisingly clear night.  
Zyro had left the B-it after awhile, not saying when he would be back as he had walked out the door and left them all reduced to one - though that number was probably fewer considering the Ren, Shinobu, Eight, and Kite had likely gone back to their homes.  
Zyro, however, had found himself at the river, sitting on the grass silently as he looked up at the stars that littered the night sky like a bunch of glitter spilled on a black sheet of construction paper.  
He had sat stargazing with Gingka here, about 2 weeks ago if he remembered correctly. The redhead had woke him up in the middle night by sneaking into his room, and led him here where he eventually fell asleep on the grass.

Zyro's eyes watered as he thought of that, remembering how he had foolishly asked Gingka where his father was when he had mentioned that he had always stargazed with him as a child - only to find out that he had died 2 years prior.  
The Fire Blader still felt bad about bringing up that subject, knowing well that Gingka had likely just put on a mask to conceal his sadness...  
Just like he had put on a mask to conceal the fact that he was dying..

 _"So remember that when someone you know dies.."_

NO.

No, no, no...

Gingka had said those words.

He had said them just to comfort Zyro, trying not to let him feel guilty for reminding him of his father and letting him know that it was alright.  
But that was a lie... This is what he meant.  
When he said it, he wasn't referring to his father, or someone else that he had known that had probably died in the same way... He had been referring to himself and this very moment.  
It was then that when the tears came to his eyes, Zyro was incapable of keeping them in. He then slide down his cheeks, quiet sobs escaping him before he buried his head in his knees, arms wrapped around them to keep them up so that he cry to himself the tears that he had kept in the entire day...  
He felt pathetic, sitting here and crying which he knew would do absolutely nothing to help Gingka's condition at all..  
Alcorin had said that he would kill him, that there was no way to prevent the death that he was slowly yet surely coming to.

He tried to convince himself that there might be something they could do, that there was a way to save Gingka from the painful demise that awaited him, but...  
No one could really stop death.  
And those thoughts are just what made him cry harder, biting down on the edge of his coat to cry and muffle the strangled sobs that tried to escape his throat. Even when he was alone, he hated crying.  
He hated hearing himself crying, he hated the feeling of the tears streaming down his face and the screams that so desperately pulled at his throat.  
But no matter how hard he tried, they always made their way out.

"Really?" Came a familiar, somewhat mocking voice, "Are you _actually_ crying about it now?"  
Zyro gasped softly, his eyes peeking up from behind his arm towards where the voice had come from.  
And standing there, arms crossed and expression solemn, was Kira. His eye patch seemed like half of his face had been taken off and been replaced with the void in the darkness that the night cast on his face.  
Kira raised his visible eyebrow, looking at the Fire Blader with an interested aura about him.  
Zyro looked away, reaching up and wiping the tears from his face that he cursed himself for letting Kira see.

"Get it through your skull, Zyro." Kira said plainly, "Crying isn't going to do anything to help your friend in the state that he's in."  
Zyro said nothing, refusing to look at the Bahamoote Blader out of shame that he had let him see him cry.  
Kira sighed out of annoyance and walked up the small hill, sitting down next to the Ifraid Blader with a solemn look on his face.  
"I'm going to try to level with you..." The multicolor-haired blader said, "But that look on your face is just pathetic.."

"You aren't helping, Kira..." Zyro said as he simply looked down towards his shoes, refusing to look at Kira in the eye.  
"Hmph.." The other grunted, flicking his wrist off to the side, "I'm just the one who's at least trying to get you to ground level.. Since your friends obviously can't do that at all themselves."  
Zyro gently pulled at the fabric of his jacket, listening to Kira's words as he really didn't have any other choice but to.  
"Listen, Zyro." Kira said firmly as he looked over at the Fire Blader, "I don't care how well you knew him, or that your friends think its fine for you to just sulk in your own self-pity for as long as you need... Because it isn't going to help him."

For several moments did Zyro sit there in silence, unsure of what to say towards Kira's lecture about this situation.  
It was obvious that he didn't care about Gingka, that he didn't care about how they were handling it or how much they were damaged by it, so...

"Why are you saying this?" The ginger-ravenette asked, slowly looking over at the multicolor-haired blader in confusion.  
"Because _someone_ has to keep you all grounded.." Kira said with a roll of the eye, "And if all of you can't do that by yourselves, then I guess I'm the one who has too."

"Are you saying that you wanna help?.." Zyro asked out of curiosity, raising one of his eyebrows slightly.  
"I _don't_ want to help." Kira said firmly, narrowing his one slightly at the other blader, "I just can't stand the thought of all you crying all the time, which - as I have said before - will do nothing for you.."  
Zyro smiled in the slightest bit.  
He knew very well that Kira didn't care about Gingka at all, nor did he really care about any of them at all either.  
But maybe, somewhere in that cold heart of his, he understood somehow.  
Zyro didn't know how he would understand, as he knew next to nothing about the blader beside him, but whatever.

"Still.." The ginger-ravenette said, "Why?"

There was a silence.  
A silence that Kira did not break for several moments, which soon turned into a few minutes and Zyro now wondered whether he would answer at all.

"I'm just returning the favor.." The multicolor-haired blader said plainly, and Zyro knew what he meant.  
Kira knew that Zyro would likely tell him not to say anything about Gingka's condition to anyone, especially not the other ex-DNA bladers, for they had to keep the number of people who knew as small as possible, but Kira didn't need to be told that.

After all, it wasn't something that they really needed to know anyway.


	17. Chapter 16 - It Would've Been Better

Chapter 16 - It Would've Been Better

* * *

"He **WHAT**?!"

She would've flinched if she had felt any emotion. But she simply stared at him, standing there with his red eyes that turned into the ones he had been born with, the ones that didn't have light reflecting off of them.  
Only once before had she seen his eyes like that, when he had heard that Ren had lost her battle and he had been trying to calm himself down.  
"Kira Hayama has agreed to help them.." She repeated calmly, "Or at least, on his own terms."

That, of course, did not calm Alcorin down any.  
He gritted his teeth, a small red aura surrounding him as his skin almost had the ghost of a pure white complexion, though it was never clear enough to see directly.  
"This..." He said slowly through gritted teeth, "Was _not_ part of the plan, now was it?"  
His voice dripped with an undertone that could've frightened her if she was able to feel anything.  
She really didn't feel anything any more to tell the truth, not like she had once been able too before there was Alcorin.  
But even still, she never said anything to try and calm him down that much, even when the shadow of who he had been born as showed through his human skin - she had seen him, observed him, watched him as he stood there while watching them all with his golden-brown eyes that were so similar, seeing them turn red whenever that side of him almost got the best of him, or when he was angry at something, someone - who he was born as never completely came through.  
There was only ever a shadow upon his eyes, a highlight on his already pale skin, that was never fully clear enough to really see.

But even still, she looked at him, into those crimson eyes that she had seen so many times before, yet these ones were the ones that he had formally had.  
She watched him, watched as his eyes slowly regained the reflecting light and turned back into their shade of golden-brown, the red aura that momentarily protruded from him fading.  
Slowly did he calm down, though his expression still remaining as cold as it was despite his always soft features.  
"Do you have the slightest idea as to _why_?.." He asked firmly, a red highlight in his eyes that showed he was definitely displeased.

He already knew the answer himself, he didn't need her to tell him anything - why he played at these games with he was something that she didn't know, but perhaps just part of his psychopathic mind.  
"I do not know.." He said solemnly, looking down slightly as though to try and mimic shame, even though she was unable to feel that.

"To keep them grounded." Alcorin answered for her, an annoyed tone in his voice, "To keep the grounded, so that they can actually try and prevent the death of little Gingka Hagane.."  
A growl was emitted from him through gritted teeth, turning away in the slightest bit while his eyes faintly glowed red.  
"I won't let them.." He said coldly, "It denies part of the plan, but I can make it work one way or another.."

"And how will you do that?..." She deadpanned, her voice nearly nothing more than an echo off of the metal walls.

"I have my ways, my pet.." He said with a small chuckle, "You know I do... But do keep an eye on them. We wouldn't want them causing any mischief, now do we?" He lifted his left hand, once more possessing the dull crimson sphere that he wrapped his fingers around.  
"And to add to that.." He continued, a small and devilish smirk on his soft features, "Let's make it a little more fun."  
A giggle was the last thing she heard before she left the room...

* * *

"Sakyo~!" Takanosuke whined as he slumped against the railing of the bridge, the redhead glancing back towards him with those red eyes of his, "I'm bored~!"  
Sakyo rolled his eyes slightly.  
Despite him and Takanosuke - sort of - being friends, the short blond still somehow managed to get a bit on his nerves.  
That he really minded by this point in time, she he had gotten used to his loudness and such, especially when he was around the rest of his teammates.  
But that didn't help much with the fact that the tournament had been put on hold just yesterday - for whatever reason still remained to both them and everyone else in Metal Bey City.

"I wanna battle someone but the tournament is cancelled~!" The small blond continued to whine, his arms hanging loosely over the edge of the railing.  
"It is not cancelled." The redhead retorted as he turned slightly towards the other, "Its simply put on hold for now.."

"Yeah, but still.." Takanosuke replied, looking up towards the sky with his cerulean blue eyes, "I don't get it~! Why would the Director just put it on hold all of a sudden?"  
That was the question that they were all asking.  
And by 'they', Sakyo meant everyone in Metal Bey City, and maybe even the entire world of which had been fully eager to watch the rounds of the tournament and now was just disappointed in the fact that they knew it wouldn't be continuing for perhaps a long while.  
Sakyo had been shocked as well, though he did a better job at keeping it to himself much better than Takanosuke did.  
He almost cringed at the memory of how high the boy's voice had been when he had actually screamed out a 'WHAT' almost right into the crimson-redhead's ears.

Sakyo was lucky he could even hear at all at this point, considering how much the blond had been whining about the tournament not continuing and how heartbroken he seemed about it.  
But he did have to self-admit that he was a little disappointed as well.  
He had barely been able to use Ronin Dragoon since the DNA incident about 3 weeks ago, and he could feel his Bey's call to want to be put into battle, have at least a little bit of action or else it might just burst.  
That was sort of impossible anyway, but figuratively speaking.  
"Why do you think they put it on hold anyway?" Takanosuke question, leaning against the railing and gazing out across the city, "The Director said that it was just something important that came up, but what?!" Sakyo simply grunted, turning away from his friend a small bit. "For now, its none of our business." He said, crossing his arms as he too looked out over the city that they knew as  
home, "We'll just have to wait and see." A loud sigh was emitted from the boy beside him, who looked like he was pouting.

"Okay..." Takanosuke sighed in defeat, propping his head up on his fist while his elbow remained balanced on the railing.  
He wasn't exactly one to go against Sakyo's word, especially since he was the elder one of the two and likely had more wisdom than he did - so, like the good boy he was taught to be, he listened to him.  
Looks like they would all just have to wait it out until the tournament was able to restart.  
For whatever reason it had been halted...

* * *

Madoka, Benkei, and Zyro's friends had, of course, not been very thrilled when Zyro had told them that Kira would be 'helping' them, in a sense.  
The multicolor-haired blader had coldly denied that he even wanted to help at all and that he was simply trying to keep the WBBA Bladers from losing their minds over something as 'silly' as the death of the Legendary Blader.  
Though they said nothing, since they knew that maybe Kira's cooperation could indeed help them in both their and his favor.  
And he stayed there, even as most of them sat in Gingka's room for awhile and listened to the rhythmic beating of the heart monitor, his soft wheezing being the only utter noise that was really uttered within the corrupt silence of the room.  
Kira leaned against the wall, observing them with his one eye like a mother bird watching over her hatch-lings silently - the only difference being is that Kira didn't really care about any of them.

The only others who were in there were Zyro, Madoka, Ren, Maru, and Shinobu, Kite having taken Eight out into the hall to try and occupy his little brother for the time being.  
Maru had been typing silently on her laptop for a bit, glancing over at her teacher every now and then out of concern as the brunette sat beside the redhead in silence.  
Ren and Shinobu constantly looked like they wanted to say something, but just silently communicated through what could've been Morse code by the way they were constantly tapping their fingers on the small table that they were sitting at.

And Zyro was just... There, really.

He was there, as if waiting for something to happen, listening for any sort of change like the beat of Gingka's slowing heart had become his lullaby. Then, of course, there was just Kira.  
Who honestly did care less about Gingka's condition than they even thought he could, not even really giving the comatose Blader a glance every one in a purple moon, save for his one eye constantly watching them in silence.  
Needless to say, none of this was helping much.  
Madoka still had her hand placed over Gingka's, her fingers inching into his palm every now and then but not fully holding his hand like she wanted to.

Maybe it was a good thing though, as the redhead's breathing hitched again and the heart monitor started going off.  
Their eyes all went to the comatose man as he hyperventilated, his condition clearly getting worse as he clenched the bed sheets in his hand and breathed in a distorted way.  
Madoka leaned over quickly and placed her other hand by his head, the Pegasus Blader unconsciously moving his head into it as his pain continued frequently - thankfully, it was sort lived.  
It wasn't long before he managed to calm down, the heart monitor slowing down once more just as his breathing, inhaling softly with an almost choked sound to it.  
Tears came to Madoka's eyes, but she quickly sat back and wiped them away on her sleeve, knowing that her tears would do absolutely nothing for him.  
Kira's one eye looked upon the redhead silently, having watched the entire scenario along with the rest of them.

"Has that happened before?" He asked solemnly, still leaning against the wall.

"Once..." Maru said as she had ceased to type absently on her laptop, looking at Madoka once before being unable to stop herself from looking away.  
"So why aren't you doing anything about it?" All of their eyes suddenly went to him, seemingly unsure of how to respond to his question.  
"How would we be able to do anything about it?" Shinobu asked the multicolor-haired blader, trying to hide his obvious displeasure of him, "Alcorin said that there was nothing we could do to save him.."

"And you honestly believe whoever this 'Alcorin' is?" Kira retorted, his one eye looking over to the light-haired blader. Shinobu didn't respond.

"He's playing with you.." Kira said bluntly, "I've seen and done it before. He _wants_ you to think there's nothing you can do."  
Zyro's eyes widened, as did a few of the others at this sudden statement.

Maybe... Maybe Kira was on to something.  
Being someone who had now been on both sides of the situation, Kira was likely on to something with this statement - in fact, he could even be entirely right.  
"But if he's dying..." Ren began, "Why would he make there be a way to save him if he wants him dead?"  
Kira simply shrugged.  
"For all we know, there isn't a way to save him.." The multicolor-haired blader said unhelpfully, "But he _didn't_ say that he'd be waiting for you, didn't he?"

Kira's one eye made its way over to Zyro, who was surprised at that action.  
The Fire Blader did not answer right away, his own blue orbs looking down towards the floor while still somewhat being turned in Kira's direction.  
"Yeah.. He did.." The ginger-ravenette answered, "But, I didn't really think that it meant much.."

"Well if he said that, then it sounds like he wants you to find him.." Kira speculated, clearly not entirely sure himself but also the only one that had actually bothered to piece those things together just now.  
"Find him?" Maru repeated, not entirely sure if she had heard the ex-DNA blader right, "Why would he want us to find him if he's... Um.. Killing Gingka anyway?"  
Maru had said that with an uncomfortable tone, glancing at her teacher who looked more than uncomfortable with that subject, "If everything he might want is working out, wouldn't finding him be going against those plans?"

Kira simply shrugged again, closing his one eye for a moment. "Hmph.." He grunted, "Not even I really know well enough to explain that... But if he implied that he actually wants you to find him, then why aren't you trying?"  
All of them fell silent at this.  
Kira raised an eyebrow, his one eye glancing around at them all - this was all that he was really there to do.  
Make sure that they were all kept on ground-level and not moping over the fact that their friend was dying, because he wasn't Kira's friend and he didn't care.  
"Well?" He said, breaking the silence that had come between them all, "Are you actually going to try? Or are you going to let him-" He gestured over to Gingka using his head, his bangs somewhat swishing along with his movements, "-suffer on his bed with no hope of ever waking up, suggesting that he has any?"  
They all sat and stood there for several moments, no one saying a word as they had listened to Kira's words of beating them into a sense of reality.

Maybe he was right... Grieving over the fact that Gingka was both dying and in a coma, that he might not wake up anyway even if ( _when_ ) he did die.  
But minutes passed, and nobody said a single word, the silence only broken every few seconds by Gingka's monitored heartbeat, which may have been even slower than it had been previously before.  
It was only then that someone spoke, and it was someone that hadn't really had the courage to speak since yesterday, when she had discovered the truth all in one go.

"Maru.." Madoka began, looking over at her student who immediately looked up to her teacher, "Go contact Tsubasa. I'll be right there."  
The pinkette simply nodded, her ponytail bouncing along with the movement as she stood up with her laptop under her right arm before leaving the room.  
Madoka's turquoise eyes looked towards the redhead once again, reaching out and gently brushing her fingertips against his almost white cheek.  
She sighed shakily, knowing that crying would do absolutely nothing to help him (if he could be helped that is).

It was just that he looked so... Dead.  
He wasn't, she knew that very well, as did the rest of his from his almost strangled breathing and slowing heartbeat, but... It just looked like it.  
His skin was almost drained of pigment, a deathly pale complexion that made him look like he had a white sheet draped over his skin, missing the rest of his body and plastering itself there.  
It was almost... Frightening.  
They all watched her as pulled away from the comatose redhead, her breath shaky as she tried not too let out any more tears that had boiled in her from yesterday and shakily got up.  
She took one last look at the redhead, a feeling of dread planting itself in the pit of her stomach before she left the room.  
None of the younger bladers said anything, Ren and Shinobu getting up from their seats and coming over to stand beside Zyro and Kira.  
Kira, as usual, said absolutely nothing, glancing over at Zyro as the ginger-ravenette made his way over to the side of the bed, standing there silently.

"Zyro?" Ren questioned silently, glancing at Kira who she knew was watching to see what would happen. The 3 watched the Fire Blader, and saw him absently shake his head.

"He should've just killed him..." Zyro said in a way that frightened perhaps even Kira, but definitely Ren and Shinobu, "If Alcorin wanted him dead, he should've just killed before we got there."  
Both Ren and Shinobu were shocked by that, even Kira's eye widening at these words from the boy who had previously had such an innocent in his eyes before this.  
"Zyro, how can you say that?!" Ren demanded, staring at her friend in confusion and shock.  
"It would've been better than making him suffer!..." Zyro retorted almost weakly, his voice shaking in the slightest bit from what could've been anger, sadness, or fear. Maybe all three at the same time.  
It was only after the silence that came did Zyro leave the room, leaving all 3 of them in dreaded silence that could've been deafening from the mere ringing in their ears.  
Kira had stood up from leaning against the wall, closer to where Gingka lay and where Zyro had previously been, looking towards the door with his one eye as the Fire Blader had left without another word.

That... Was something that not even he had the power to speak over. Zyro was pretty grounded alright, despite still floating in the atmosphere between what was reality and what wasn't - but that had been something that none of them could comment on.  
"I-I'll stay here.." Ren insisted shakily, "S-someone's gotta watch him just in case.."  
She gestured over to Gingka, breathing softly in his deep sleep that he probably wouldn't wake up from.  
Shinobu merely nodded before leaving the room, giving Ren a concerned glance before he disappeared from sight.  
Kira followed soon afterwards...

* * *

Maru had obeyed in leaving the room, half-closing the door behind her since she knew that her teacher would be following her.  
With her laptop tucked under her arm, she made her way towards the stairs so that he could head down a floor, hopefully to where there would be no one around so that she, Chief, and the Director could talk with themselves.  
It was only as he headed for them did she see Eight coming down the hall, his aquatic blue hair slightly in his eyes of which he had apparently gotten used to over time.

"Oh, hi Eight." Maru greeted as she came to the top of the stairs, not wanting to go down without politely saying hello the child who she knew was around her age - he was likely a couple years older, maybe eight (ironically with his name), but that didn't really matter.  
"Oh.." Eight said, looking up at the pinkette with his green eyes, "Hey, Maru... Um... How's Gingka doing?"  
Maru looked at him with saddening eyes, her violet orbs making their way down to the floor.  
"Not much better.." He said gravely, "If anything, he's getting even worse... Chief isn't taking it to well, but.. Kira sort of seems to be helping a bit..."

Eight didn't entirely like the sound of Kira's name in that sentence, but at this point in time, he really didn't care about that.  
"I see.." He said almost gloomily, unsure of what to say to the other child. Making any sort of light conversation at all was currently a task for all of them (save Kira), so thinking of something to say that wouldn't be either damaging or carefree was a hassle to do.  
But the bluenette's thoughts were cut off when he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder in an awkward hug, Maru currently using her other arm to hold her laptop against her so that she wouldn't drop it and damage the screen.  
"It could turn out okay.." Maru said softly into his ear as she hugged him in a weird position, "But... Not even I can say for sure.."  
The pinkette hid the tears in her eyes as she pulled away and headed off down the stairs, leaving Eight there with little to no words left to say.  
Though the pinkette simply made her way down some steps and such and went over to her desk, opening her laptop and tapping on of the keys a few times as she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, likely Madoka.  
She was correct with her guess as she felt her teacher come up behind her and somewhat lean over on her desk, watching as Maru brought up the screen that allowed her to call the Director, his face appearing on the screen in the spacious office of his at the WBBA.

"Hey, Tsubasa.." Madoka said with a small forced smile as the silverette looked towards the screen behind him, hating to see that expression on such delicate and pale features that had been beside a comatose blader the entire day.  
"Hi, Madoka." He greeted back, slightly surprised at her sudden need of contact with him, "I wasn't expecting you to call."  
"Yeah, I know.." The brunette said apologetically, "But I think we might have something that'll be able to help us." This intrigued Tsubasa's interest, sitting up straight in his chair as he always did and listening intently.  
"Kira brought up the subject about Alcorin's message." Maru explained.

"Okay- wait.. Kira?" Tsubasa questioned, raising an eyebrow at the name of the ex-DNA Blader. Madoka bit her lower lip for a moment - they had, of course, not gotten around to telling Tsubasa about Kira's sudden want to help them with Gingka's condition, despite claiming that he just couldn't handle the so-called annoying thought of them crying and moping all the time over 'someone's' death.  
"Its a bit of a long story.." Madoka said with a wry smile before continuing, "Anyway, he said that something in 'Alcorin's' message suggested that he wanted us to find him.. Or that there's some way to save Gingka."  
Golden-brown eyes widened at this.  
He had almost forgotten about the message that Alcorin had given them, failed to have been recorded by the WBBA's recording system like it usually did, but those words of his still fresh in his mind as if they had just been whispered into his ear.

"What do you mean?" The silverette asked, now fully intrigued as to what Madoka had to say.  
"Well, Zyro said that Alcorin finished his message with the words 'I'll be waiting', right?" Madoka asked, watching as Tsubasa nodded, "Well Kira suggested that he actually meant he'd be waiting for us to find him.. Wherever he is. And if so, then maybe there's a way to save him too."  
Tsubasa - somehow - doubted the second possibility that there was any way to save him at all.  
You couldn't just prevent someone's prolonged death when it was inevitable, like from a deadly disease or from old age.  
But... Finding Alcorin was a possibility that was very likely - the only question is where exactly he was.  
"You think that we'd be able to find him?" Tsubasa repeated, making sure that it was clear between the 2 - 3 - of them.

"I do." Madoka replied, "Even if we can't save Gingka.. I want to at least find the son of a bitch that did this to him!..."  
Maru's wide eyes looked up towards her teacher, having never heard her swear around her before - Tsubasa was surprised as well, since the brunette didn't usually say things like that... But given the situation, it was acceptable enough.  
"Okay." Tsubasa concluded, standing up from his chair on the other side of the screen, "I'll get Hikaru and some others to try and see if they get anything... I want to find him too Madoka, don't worry."  
Madoka simply nodded, and hung up the call with Maru's help.  
The pinkette looked up towards her teacher, who had brought her hands up to her mouth and closed her eyes, as if silently praying.  
She definitely didn't blame her for doing so, nor did she blame her for cussing like she had.

Madoka was close to Gingka, close like Tsubasa and Benkei were, being almost best friends since they were about preteens or so.  
They had gone through the Nemesis crisis together, and she had watched as Gingka had destroyed the God of Destruction 7 years ago and saved the world like he had on 2 different occasions.  
No matter how hard she could have tried, Maru couldn't blame her...

* * *

The next day had come with gloomy weather, not fitting the summer atmosphere even in the early morning.  
Madoka had woken up at about 6:00 that morning, yet she stayed in her bedroom and stared at the ceiling for a good half hour before getting out of bed and using her private bathroom to get ready for the day.. Not like it would be any different than the previous 2 days.  
Dimly, she could still hear Gingka's heart beating from the far side of the hall when she leaned against the door, the sound becoming like a lullaby to her that let her fall asleep at night, knowing that he was still alive... But only just.  
She had thought to hear something earlier that morning, maybe around 6:45, but she had just passed it off as Zyro or Maru just waking up and accidentally bumping into something in their sleep-deprived dazes.  
Madoka knew that neither had really gotten much sleep, especially not Zyro with how much had been on his mind.  
But ever since yesterday he at least seemed a bit more grounded than he had the day that he had realized that Gingka was dying.  
That they had all realized he was dying.

Madoka sighed as she finished making up her bed, smoothing out the soft cream-colored blankets into the perfection that she often liked.  
Yet even so, it was hard to pretend that nothing was wrong, when everything was wrong and everything had just changed in the time span of what had been a few seconds, with a slowing heart and strangled breath that terrified her.  
But with that she did all that she could to try and be strong, for all of them and for Gingka, like he would want of her.  
She opened her door and left her room, leaving it open a crack so that the mild air could leave it a fair temperature.  
Surprisingly, it wasn't as warm in the B-Pit as they usually thought it would be, the warmth still there yet with a cold that was unable to be identified - perhaps from the sound of the heart monitor from down the hall that was just dimly there, knowing that there was a man dying in a coma on his bed with no hope of waking up before he passed.

With a heavy heart, yet with a high head in Madoka make her way through the dim halls, not bothering to turn on to many of the lights since it might disturb Maru and Zyro if they were still asleep, despite having their doors closed like they often did.  
A shaky breath escaped the brunette's lips as she came in front of the ajar door, hearing the sound of heart monitor sounding every 3 seconds or so, maybe even 4 seconds if she listened close enough and counted accurately on her fingers.  
Yet she really didn't feel like it.  
Gently she place her hand on the door and push it open, knowing full well of what she would likely be greeted with again.

But a startled cry was what awoke both Maru and Zyro from their sleep, Zyro falling out of his bed and Maru shooting up out of hers with her pink and slightly curly hair draping over her shoulders.  
It only took a few moments for both of them to be out of their rooms, Maru wearing her pink pajamas while Zyro wore his dark blue boxers and a black tank-top.  
They heard Madoka utter an inaudible name once she had turned the light in Gingka's room on, both of them skidding to a halt behind him and peering in through the door.  
Who they saw was definitely not who they expected, and Madoka was the only one to speak in a confused and surprised tone.

"What are you doing here?"


	18. Chapter 17 - Our Little Secret

Chapter 17 - Our Little Secret

* * *

"Dynamis?" Madoka questioned, both confused and surprised as she looked towards the familiar face as he looked towards her from sitting beside Gingka's bed, hearing Maru and Zyro coming up behind her from her absent cry of being so startled with his presence, "What are you doing here?"

Dynamis didn't quite look like he had changed over the years, still dressed in robes that were very similar to the ones he had worn back 7 years ago, his hair almost just as it was, covering his right eye and yet appeared slightly longer in the back.  
His face had matured a bit, yet had the same soft yet hard look that belonged to the Guardian of the Mist Mountain Shrine - Madoka could see that the gloves her wore were different than the ones that he had had, now merely going up reaching to about his knuckles and around down to his wrist - she couldn't see how far they went up since his sleeves were now longer, almost symmetrical on either side.

"Dynamis?" Zyro repeated whilst tilting his head a bit, confusing plain on his face and looking towards the Bey Mechanic as she looked down at him.  
"Dynamis is one of the Legendary Bladers that defeated Nemesis, 7 years ago." She explained, looking back towards the purplenette, "I'm guessing you've been at the Mist Mountain Shrine, huh?"  
Dynamis merely nodded, a solemn look on his face as he blinked with the gesture.

"Indeed." He said with his slightly deepened voice that still did not sound much different and almost exactly as she remembered, "And I suppose that this is Zyro Kurogane?"  
Dynamis's eyes gestured over towards Zyro, who was slightly embarrassed since he only had his boxers and his tank top on.  
"Umm.." He staggered for a moment, "Y-yeah.." Dynamis simply nodded with a small smile towards the younger blader, seemingly not bothered by the fact that he was still in his technical pajamas.  
"Okay, but.." Madoka began, "What are you doing here Dynamis?" The small smile upon his dark skin faded, throwing a very quick glance towards Maru with her wide lavender eyes.

"To put it simply, I heard about Gingka's condition..." He said, "So I came."  
Madoka's and Zyro's eyes widened at this statement.  
How had Dynamis found out about Gingka's condition when it was supposed to be as secret as it possibly could be?  
Had word gotten out or something? Maybe Tsubasa had contacted some of the Legendary Bladers and told them to come here as soon as they possibly could, but... That chance was also highly unlikely, since Tsubasa was bent on keeping the number of people who knew to a strict minimum, despite Kira of course.  
"W-who told you?" Madoka asked, wry of the situation at hand. Dynamis looked like he bit his inner lip for a moment before gesturing down beside her.

"Maru did." He said. Madoka's eyes widened and she looked down towards her student.

"Maru?" Madoka repeated, looking down at Maru who slowly glanced up towards her. Maru bit her lip for a moment before giving awkward smile and a shrug that stuck there for a moment.  
"I'll be sure to explain everything once you get your friends together." Dynamis said, looking at Madoka as if trying to draw her attention away from either getting angry or confused with Maru.  
"And once those two put some clothes on." He added, gesturing towards the 2 children, who blushed in embarrassment...

* * *

The friends (save for Kira) had indeed been brought together and had gathered at the B-Pit, Tsubasa coming over with Hikaru who would be able to keep in touch with her co-workers if they found anything.  
They probably could've gone to the WBBA instead, but they chose not to since they might draw a bit of attention, and they couldn't leave Gingka alone and unsupervised while in a coma.  
The other younger bladers had definitely been honored to meet another Legendary Blader besides Gingka, receiving a polite introduction from Dynamis himself.  
Kira hadn't said much of course, he was just there because he was a bit interested in the situation, especially with what was likely to come.  
Giving an excuse to the other ex-DNA bladers had almost been hard, if he wasn't use to giving excuses to anyone he knew by now.  
Tsubasa and Benkei greeted the Jupiter Blader kindly, saying that it was indeed good to see him again after all these years. Everyone had eventually gotten themselves settled in the place where most of the Bey-fixing took place; Maru had avoided Madoka's questions of how and why she had told Dynamis, and had sat down in her chair, turned towards Dynamis as most of them were, silently waiting.

"So, Dynamis.." Tsubasa began, standing up with his arms crossed with Eight behind him sitting on the stairs, "What exactly are you doing here in the first place."  
Dynamis, who had taken a seat on the couch looked down towards his hands for a moment before he looked up with a solemn expression.  
"Because I was told about Gingka's condition," He said, much to the surprise of most of them, "And once I was told I knew right away that I had to be here. Maru was the one who told me in the first place."  
Everyone's eyes turned to the pinkette for a moment, who just sat there and averted her eyes away from everyone around her perhaps in shame or some other emotion.

"Its mainly because me and her have been keeping in contact for awhile now." Dynamis went on, "I've been getting her to watch Gingka's condition as it got worse, while simultaneously not drawing attention to herself so that none of you would notice. It was tricky to keep a secret, but we both managed to sneak it past you until we were sure of what was going on."  
Madoka's eyes widened at this statement.  
"So, you both knew?" The brunette asked in confusion and shock.  
This question intrigued them all. Had Dynamis and Maru known what was happening to Gingka the entire time?  
Had they been keeping it a secret from them selfishly when they could've said something and perhaps saved him from being in the state that he was now?  
Maybe the way he was now was inevitable, but... Had they really?

Yet even as they asked this question in their heads, they were strangely relieved when Dynamis shook his head slightly.  
"Not exactly." He began, "Its hard to explain how exactly I suspected that something was wrong with him, since I haven't seen him for a long time, so I won't spare you the trouble.. I managed to get in contact with Maru and explained to her what we had to do, and from there it worked itself out."

"Okay..." Benkei said, placing his hand on his chin as if thinking, "But how did you get in contact with her anyway when you barely even know her?"  
The group fell silent for a moment, confused at this question and just as eager to know the answer.  
It was definitely a wonder to how both of them got into contact with each other, considering that Dynamis had likely gone right back to the Mist Mountain Shrine and shouldn't even of known who Maru was or that she even really existed.

"T-that was me.."

One of their voices broke the silence, and everyone's eyes almost immediately turned towards Hikaru, who had spoken and now awkwardly looked down towards her hands in her lap upon her computer.  
"Hikaru?" Tsubasa questioned, raising an eyebrow and almost just as dumbfounded as the rest of them were.

"Dynamis, c-contacted me about 2 weeks ago..." Hikaru slowly began to explain, looking down towards her hands with her bluish-purple eyes, "I can't entirely remember what the conversation was about, but he asked me if I could get him into contact with someone who was essentially close to Madoka for some reason, so I suggested Maru and directed his signal to her..."

"And you didn't say anything?" Tsubasa asked, looking towards the bluenette with slightly judging eyes, "Shouldn't you of told me he did?"

"I told her not to tell anyone of it, Tsubasa." Dynamis said calmly in Hikaru's defense, "If its anyone's fault, its mine. I am the one who made both of them keep secrets that they weren't entirely willing to keep."

Tsubasa was silenced by that.  
Even with that testimony, the silverette couldn't really blame any of them - they were all his friends, whether old or new it didn't matter which. He soon let it go and decided to go back to the topic at hand along with everyone else - Dynamis then continued his explanation.  
"Anyway," The Guardian continued, "Both me and Maru kept talking throughout a few weeks, and I did get her to observe Gingka's condition as much as she could without raising any suspicion through any of you. Even I'm surprised that we actually got this far with that task.. She ended up calling me a couple days ago to tell me that he had collapsed, so I knew that I had to be here... As I said before: I heard about his condition, so I came."

All of them were thoroughly surprised about this explanation, unsure entirely what to make of it until Madoka look towards Maru with a 'strict teacher' look that made her seem slightly frightening.  
"Maru, I thought you told me you weren't talking to anyone." The brunette said.

"I'm human!" Was Maru's retort, "What do ya want from me?" Her lavender eyes looked down in what was almost shame, maybe from the guilt of lying to her teacher for so long.  
Madoka simply sighed and looked down at the ground. This was all just too stressful, which was something that they could definitely all agree on.  
The last few days hadn't even seemed real, everything suddenly changing in one instant and unable to go back to normal until... No.

Things could never really go back to the way they had been before all this. Even if Gingka could possibly live, he might not wake up from his coma anyway.  
And even if he did wake up, it was a possibility that he wouldn't be the same, considering how comas had affected some people in the past, giving them memory loss, brain damage or other things that were still absolutely terrifying.  
But chances of Gingka waking up or even living in a coma were highly unlikely, from the known fact that his heart was slowing down and beating way slower than it should've.  
It scared them all, all except for Kira who still obviously didn't care about his condition at all.  
Gingka was dying.  
That was something that they all knew, 3 words that had been repeated to themselves and to each other over and over again through the last 3 days like a tainted prayer of some satanic cult.  
For all they knew, that was where 'Alcorin' was from - he was definitely screwed up enough in the head for it.

"Why did you come here in the first place, Dynamis?" Tsubasa asked, looking towards the grey-purplenette, "If you knew or suspected that Gingka was dying anyway, why did you come here?"  
Dynamis's one visible eye flashed peculiarly at that moment, as if he had been waiting dearly for someone to ask that question - his next words confirmed it.  
"I'm quite glad you asked, Tsubasa." He said, "Its a little hard to explain.. But I do believe that there could possibly be a way to save Gingka."  
Everyone was surprised by this statement, one that Kira had made just yesterday with a suggestion that they at least try and find Alcorin.  
They were probably more surprised at the fact that Dynamis had come all the way here just to tell them this, that he had observed Gingka through Maru for the weeks that he had been back in Metal Bey City after 5 years.  
But... For some strange reason, it just didn't seem possible, with the fact that he was dying in his coma and that Dynamis was now here telling and maybe confirming that there might just be a way to save him.  
It just.. Didn't seem entirely possible. Yet maybe it was the false hope that they clung on to that made them believe that it was possible.

"I'm not saying it for sure.." Dynamis said as he glanced downward for a moment and then back up, "But I do have a feeling that there could be a way that we could save Gingka.. Even with the state he's in now.. But it might be difficult..."

"Is it weird to say that Kira said that there could be a way to save him, like, yesterday?.." Ren said as she raised an eyebrow, lightly scratching her cheek from irritation.  
Dynamis looked somewhat surprised at this, but whatever the emotion was he may have hidden it.  
"We received a message from someone who calls himself, 'Alcorin'.." Hikaru explained to the other Legendary Blader.  
"He claimed openly to us that he was the one who was doing this to him in the first place.." Tsubasa continued for her, "His final words were that he would be waiting... We all guessed that it was actually a hint to him wanting us to find him for whatever reason. So I got Hikaru and some others to see if they could try and track his whereabouts, but they've come up with nothing so far."  
Dynamis was silent for a moment, as if calculating the words in his head.

"I see.." He said solemnly, "Well.. Either way I would like to try and save him just as much as the rest of you want too.."  
Several glances were exchanged, even though no real debating even had to be made between them. Even while Kira stayed out of it, they all agreed that Dynamis might indeed be able to help.  
"We'd appreciate the help, Dynamis." Tsubasa said to conclude their answer. In response, Dynamis cracked a small smile through his beautifully cold features.

"Don't mention it.." He said...

* * *

The day soon passed into the afternoon, the sky cloudy yet still with the sun gently poking out from behind them. Dynamis had gone with both Tsubasa and Hikaru back to the WBBA, while most of them stayed at the B-Pit for awhile.  
Madoka and Maru had had a discussion in the kitchen, where the shop-owner told none of them to come in until they were done.  
It wouldn't have been a surprise if Madoka had talked to Maru about keeping it a secret that she was secretly in contact with Dynamis for the last 3 weeks, keeping it from her and lying to her for so long - it wasn't exactly like Maru had wanted to, of course, it was simply that she had had too in order for both her and Dynamis to be sure of what was happening with Gingka's condition.  
The air in the B-Pit still seemed dense afterwards, Zyro, Madoka, Ren, and Shinobu checking up on how Gingka's condition was doing.

The redhead - as expected - hadn't gotten any better, still breathing heavily yet softly, his breath a soft wheeze like something was stuck deep in his chest around his esophagus, but there was nothing they were able to do about that.  
Maru had come in an monitored his heart beat with a bit of help from the heart monitor, explaining with a pale face as his heart beats were now 4 seconds apart from each other.  
Madoka had evidently not taken that very well, but she did her best to try and hide it even with the shuddering breaths that escaped her and into her hands that she had brought up to her mouth.  
Zyro hadn't taken it well either, though he didn't say much as he looked upon the deathly pale face of the comatose Legendary Blader, his blue eyes saying everything about the pain that he felt before he simply left the room soon after Madoka had to deal with this news - Ren and Shinobu followed after him.

Kira didn't do much, he had remained in the room that they had all been in earlier that morning while silently thinking to himself, his one eye staring aimlessly forward towards the opposite side of the room.  
So it appeared, Dynamis had definitely known something about Gingka's condition perhaps from the very start.  
Yet that lead to its own questions as well... How did Dynamis even come to suspect something of the other Legendary Blader?  
How had he known to contact Metal Bey City and observe him through Maru when something might not have been wrong at all and it could have been just a waste of time?  
It seemed quite unlikely that he would just suddenly expect something and decide to observe him through a girl that he likely hadn't even met before now...

It was just as mysterious as how the redhead had ended up this way, despite 'Alcorin's' apparent vague explanation that he had done this to him.  
How, he had no idea, but it was definitely something that had happened perhaps before the BTF tournament had even began.  
It could've been at the DNA headquarters.. But that was impossible.  
As far as Kira knew, the Garcia's had monitored that room to the last inch for 24 hours straight, and no one had really been in and out of that room except for any of them and Doji's hologram.  
There had been no one else in there at all until Zyro and his friends had shown up, so... How?  
Kira could only think of one possible explanation that was far beyond even being possible at all - impossible would even be an understatement.

It didn't make sense at all, but maybe it wasn't supposed to...  
Maybe Alcorin _was_ just playing them like a bunch of chess pieces, thinking of it as a game that he was sure to win.  
Kira honestly _hated_ that thought with a burning intensity, knowing what it was like to be used once before and never planning on EVER being used again for someone's playful joy and being used as a simple puppet.  
It was still a thought that couldn't be possible, and yet when he thought about the situation and how he had been described, that didn't entirely seem like the case...

* * *

The ex-DNA bladers had been wondering off and on about where Kira had been for the last 3 days, hardly being around at all and barely saying anything even when he was - but they knew much better than to question him at all.  
"I don't get it.." Baihu said as he hung his head over the edge of his bed while the rest of his body lay sprawled out on the sheets, "Where's Kira gone anyway?.. We've barely seen him in the last 3 days..."

"You know better than to go against Kira's word, Baihu." Captain Arrow said as he too lay on his back with his hands behind his head on his pillow, staring up at the ceiling before his yellow eyes made their way over to the younger one, "It could definitely end with serious consequences."  
Baihu rolled his eyes behind closed eyelids.

"Don't think we haven't been wondering either.." Genjuro said as he chewed upon his dandelion while leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and one ankle crossed over the other, "Kira told us not to do anything rash so that we can keep up our not-so-very-good reputation... He's probably still trying to find answers himself."

"Does he not trust us to handle it on our own without him holding our hands?" Spike questioned irritably, hunched over with his arms across his knees.

"You know how Kira is, Spike.." Genjuro retorted, almost biting the stem of the dandelion in half with his shark-like teeth.

"Well, Kira's always been that way, it appears.." Captain Arrow inquired as he stared up at the ceiling while laying flat on his back upon his bed sheets, "I say we simply let him do as he wishes, since even he might not be able to find much... But we never know."

Genjuro's eyes looked at the masked blader for a moment before closing them, remaining in silence as the rest of them did.  
Of course they had all been wondering where there leader had been for the last 3 days - it was only natural that they'd at least be a little bit concerned since he suddenly hadn't been around that much for the past 3 days, starting with the day that he had told them not to go hunting for any answers as to why the tournament had been cancelled - even when he had come back that day, he hadn't seemed entirely like himself.  
He had still been quiet and demanding as he always was, somewhat girly in a weird sense, but that didn't entirely seem it.  
He had almost been... Restless.  
Something that was definitely not like their leader. Like something had come back to him that he had just remembered, or he had seen something that may have even disturbed his sadistic self, but even so...

Where was Kira?...

* * *

She didn't hear his giggling when she entered the room.  
There was only a silence as he stood there, his back to her as always and supposedly staring straight forward. It was a silence that was almost terrifying - she would always walk in and at least hear _something_ from him, whether it be a giggle or a laugh, a chuckle or actual words coming from his mouth.

But this time, there was nothing except for the light buzz of the screen.  
Yet even so, she wasn't able to feel the fear that might've crawled up and grabbed onto her like a small child or a spider back when she had been actually able to feel any of her emotions - despite the times when she wasn't entirely under his hand, even though those feelings may have very well just been artificial.  
"You seem quiet.." She said, her voice echoing like a crowd in the quiet of the room, bouncing off the metal walls a few times before stopping.  
For several moments did she get only silence, not receiving a word from him.

"Has something out of line taken place?..." She asked, looking up towards him with an eternally blank expression.

"Should you not know?..." He deadpanned, his voice almost overtaken by the demonic undertone that hung there in his heritage, rubbing his fingers together slightly as to try and keep his anger suppressed and not take it out on her unnecessarily, "Dynamis - or as some know him as, the Jupiter Blader - has come to aid them.."  
His words with slow and dangerous, his tone icy and menacing just like he himself was - though this side may have been much more frightening.  
"You _do_ know who Dynamis is, do you not?" He questioned, glancing back only slightly so that his voice could reach her a bit better, yet his eyes blocked by what was supposedly his double-parted bangs.  
"Yes..." She answered emotionlessly, "He is one of the Legendary Bladers, of the Solar System - specifically Jupiter."

A small chuckle was heard from him, one that was like ice, almost being able to freeze anything in its path with a simple sound.  
"Correct you would be..." He said, evidently trying to force down a bit of his anger through gritted teeth, "And do you know.. What that could mean?..."  
Slowly did he turn around, his eyes the same as they had been 2 days ago when he had said that Kira Hayama had decided to supposedly help out the WBBA Bladers by keeping them grounded so they wouldn't be freaking out and actually know what to do.  
The look on his face was nothing, his eyes cold and that shadow reappearing as a mere ghost upon him, reflecting on what he had looked like when he had been born.  
It never showed, but it may as well been like seeing in the abyss itself - yet even so, she did not feel any fear towards it, nor did she feel anything at all.

"My tolerance is growing _very_ thin, my pet.." He said slowly, the undertone to his voice sounding like it was trying to overcome what and who he already was.  
Yet that never did really happen.  
"Will you be able to use this to your advantage?.." She asked calmly, not affected by the aura that he cast out, one of complete insanity and torment that may have been the 'other's'.  
"It is _not_ easy to take advantage of this.." He replied slowly, "I certainly did not plan for another Legendary Blader to show up... Especially one that already might've _known_ about what was happening to little Gingka Hagane.. All we need is for the rest of them to show up..."

"How do you suppose he came to suspect such a thing?" She questioned, her voice filled with nothingness that empty might've not even been the right word, "After all, no one even knew anything before a few days ago... And by the time Zyro Kurogane and his companions had expected anything, his condition had already worsened.."  
A small giggle escaped Alcornin's lips, one that was short-lived, one that was not filled with a sadistic joy or anything of the sort.  
It was one that really showed what was under the shell of who he used to be.

"Oh, believe me, my pet.." He said darkly, a small hint of amusement in his voice as his eyes regained the reflection of light in them and yet remained red, "I think I very well know who gave him the hint... Who also may have very well been giving them all little hints while out of my sight of him."  
The undertone overlaid with his own voice in the slightest bit, showing the anger that was there and yet he refused to entirely let out just yet - it wasn't time.  
She did not have to ask him who or what he was talking about, for she already knew well enough about the 'other', as they would suggestively be called.  
The one that - of course - didn't matter anymore yet clang on anyway, burying himself in his shadow and always being there as his reflection in a plain mirror.

"Now..." He said slowly, his voice laced with venom that could've destroyed everything had words been capable of such a thing, "If you'll excuse me.. I'm going to have a little talk with a certain.. _**Friend**_ of mine..."  
All she did was nod, knowing that that was definitely her cue to leave - without any other words from her emotionless self, she turned and headed off through the door, her footsteps echoing faintly until they were just a thing of the past and leaving Alcorin alone.  
Though... Maybe not _entirely_ alone as it seemed.

His eyes closed a crimson red, closing his eyelids silently while focusing on something that was always there, that he always heard and saw in the dreams that he never had.  
Something that existed both in this world and yet in the next - entirely diverse of reality or fantasy.  
And when he opened his eyes, he was not where he had previously been.  
It was somewhere different, a pale blue color that was almost white, as white as the reflection of his skin whenever he got angry.  
Yet this was a place that he recognized, very well at that.  
It was even the correct room, as he had learned to direct himself to whenever he came here, which was really more often that he truly cared to admit.

Eyes burning red, he turned around - standing there eternally was an ethereal being that had at once been able to take a full human form as he currently did, yet from how much he had been broken down by the darkness that corrupted him so had he become a figure of white light, a few specks of it flying off of him like fireflies.  
This is all that he had been reduced to, a form that was almost inhuman, looking up with barely visible eyes at him and trembling out of fear.  
How such amusement and joy to brought to Alcorin's heartless soul, slowly stepping over to him and watching as the ethereal being quivered in his shadow.  
A fear that he had only been made up out of his entire, pathetic life.

"So..." Alcorin said, his eyes returning to the ones he had been born as, his skin perhaps almost white with the shadows that were cast over him, "What.. Have you.. **Been up too**?..."


	19. Chapter 18 - Sensation

Chapter 18 - Sensation

* * *

This time, there wasn't entirely darkness.

It strung upon the edges of his vision, haunting the outlines like it was just there to mock him... But that was it.  
It did nothing else as he saw blurry images before his eyes, one that he couldn't quite see, sounds that he could just barely make out yet at the same time was barely able to hear them at all.

Why did this always end up happening?.. Why these dreams?...

 _"W-what's wrong with them?..."_

A voice he didn't recognize... Some sort of figure, average height?... Um.. Cloaked? No...

 _"Why do they...?"_

The same voice.. Or at least, it sort of sounded like it...  
It was hard to tell, from the haziness of his outlined vision and the distortion that he both heard and saw.

 _"This power..."_

A different voice?

Yes, it was different, but he - of course - did not recognize it in the slightest. Though he could see barely anything, he already knew that it was a place he had never seen or likely even heard of before.  
A place he didn't know and had never been to as long as he had lived in his fairly short life so far.

 _"This is..."_

He tried to listen and strain his ears but he could barely hear anything.  
The last few words of whoever had spoken were cut off from his line of hearing, dimly seeing a figure or 2 moving in a blurry haze.  
He could almost see the dim shape of a mouth or two moving, though their words were something that was left unknown to him.

 _"This one... But the..."_

The voices were still distorted, his ears now only able to catch small snippets of whatever they were saying.

 _"Separate... For the better..."_

Almost everything after that was simply a mass of colors, his eyes unable to make out what anything really was anymore even through the blurry haze that he had been looking through the entire time.  
There was a grey color, red... Blue.. Pure white... And then crying.

The crying of an innocent, crying that had not yet come to be what it could be.. But... It wasn't just one, was it?...

* * *

Slowly did Zyro gently blink his eyes open, waking himself up from his sleep that he just automatically knew wasn't in his bed.  
Everything was hazy, his body rejecting the wake up call and trying to make him go back to sleep like it wanted - but he chose to deny it what it wanted as he slowly and tiredly propped himself up on his elbows.  
The Fire Blader blinked away the sleep in his eyes and looked around the room he was in, finding that he had apparently fallen asleep on the couch downstairs with only the desk lamp on.  
Maybe Madoka or Maru had left that on for him in case he woke up in the middle night and so that it wouldn't be pitch black when he fell asleep - and he was dearly grateful that they did.

Trying to shake off the stiffness of his muscles, Zyro got up from his sleeping position of being on his side and made his way over to the light, balancing himself with the help of the edge of Maru's desk and simply standing there for a moment, staring at the reflective patterns of light on the smooth wood - he let out a small sigh, still feeling the constant ache in his joints from just waking up and perhaps sleeping at an odd angle.  
What time was it anyway?  
Zyro's blue eyes tiredly made their way over to the clock on the wall, the hands reading about 8:07.  
It was weird for it be to dark already, considering that it was summer, by they did live North of the equator.  
That probably didn't even matter anyway, so whatever.

Well, there was still a little hint of a lighter blue upon the sky as far as he could see through the blinds - Maru and Madoka likely hadn't gone to bed yet, and were just upstairs with Gingka.  
Zyro sighed softly, looking at the light once more for a bit of support before he looked forward, taking a deep breath and made his way towards the stairs, able to see a bit of light from up above.

One, two, three...

Just keep walking, it'll be okay..

Four.

Just keep going, place your hand on the railing...

Five.

The small echo of footsteps as me made his way up the stairs, the cooling touch of the metal as he slid his hand across it..

Six.

Just keep going, just keep walking...

Seven.

Finally he made it upstairs after what had seemed like a complete eternity, leaving the feeling of a thousand pinks being stuck in his back behind as he embraced the comfort of the lights that were on upstairs.  
Yet, his comfort and serenity was broken from the sound of Gingka's weak heart beat from down the hall - yet even so, the soft sound was what drew him nearer, absently making his way down the hallway to the room that he knew the redhead was in, seeing the door mostly closed but a bit open just so that he could see that the lamp was likely on.  
Gently did Zyro push the door open, trying not to make a sound even though he new that Gingka had a very slim-to-none chance of waking up.  
He peered inside the room, seeing both Madoka and Maru's attention being drawn by the soft creaking of the door.  
His blue eyes observed them both for a moment, seeing Maru's computer hooked up to the heart monitor to perhaps observe Gingka's condition better, and seeing the soft tear marks on Madoka's cheeks that suggested she had let out a few tears earlier.

"O-oh.." The brunette stuttered out gently, a soft smile making its way to her trembling lips, "Hey Zyro."  
Zyro forced a small smile onto his face, though he could never feel to will to actually do it genuinely much after this.

"Uh.. Hi." He said, slowly making his way into the room with an awkwardness that had been between them ever since this had happened.  
"Maru was just checking up on Gingka's condition.." Madoka explained, looking back to the comatose redhead as Zyro came to stand beside her, "He's getting worse... "  
Maru typed a few things on her keyboard for a moment before stopping, her stiff fingers relaxing a bit and just resting on top of the keys.

"Along with his heart slowing down, his organs might also be failing..." She said gloomily, her lavender eyes looking down absently at her screen, "I can't get much, but... He's not doing too good.."  
Zyro glanced over at Madoka, who was biting her lip softly as she looked into the deathly pale of her old friend.  
She shook her head softly, her hair gently swaying along with her movements.

"He shouldn't be in this condition..." She said softly, "If we had just noticed sooner-"

"It wouldn't of changed anything.." Zyro interrupted as politely as possible, looking at the redhead as well. Madoka's turquoise eyes looked towards the Fire Blader, seeing the solemn expression on his face with half-lidded eyes that only blinked every no and then, just like Gingka's heart.  
"Um..." Madoka began, swallowing the bile that had come up into her throat, "W-we'll leave you alone for awhile.."

Madoka nodded towards her student, who simply nodded back and unhooked her laptop from Gingka's heart monitor, which still beeped about every 4 seconds that showed that he was just barely alive, before following her out of the room.  
Zyro heard the door close behind them, leaving him alone in the room despite Gingka, who wasn't even really there anyway.

Zyro cautiously reached back, pulling up the chair that Madoka had been sitting in and sitting down in it once he had brought it up to him.  
It was warm, since Madoka had been sitting in it just moments before, and it was rather quite comforting in the fact that the room was actually quite warm.  
The ginger-ravenette sighed and looked towards Gingka's pale face, looking at his eye lids with slightly fluttering eyelashes as if he were merely sleeping - yes.

That was all... He was just sleeping... For a long, long time.

Zyro's throat felt dry as he swallowed the saliva in his mouth, not sure if he should say anything at all or just remain silent, not being able to exchange any words with Gingka anyway - it wouldn't matter, no matter what he did.  
"Gingka..." He said softly, his voice almost like a scream in the silence of the room that was broken every few seconds by the beep of the heart monitor, "I'm sorry... I-I know I shouldn't be apologizing, since you.. Probably wouldn't want me apologizing, but..."  
Zyro licked his dry lips, thinking of the words in his head as he said them to who may have very well just been himself.  
He knew that Gingka wouldn't respond. That much was as clear as crystal - a lot of people who ended up in comas never did wake up, and even if they did they could either forget about entirely who they were and the lives they lived before, or could up brain dead.  
Neither of those ideas were very promising.

The fact that Gingka was dying definitely didn't make it any better either - why did it matter if he woke up if he'd just be in the same pain as he was in before?...  
He had meant what he had said to Ren and Shinobu before...  
Alcorin should've just killed him before they got there, or whenever he had started killing him in whatever way.  
They hadn't been able to notice how much he had been suffering before he had actually collapsed, hadn't realized that he had been keeping the secret of his oncoming demise from them all for whatever reason that he had had.

Zyro, Ren, Shinobu, and Benkei had only seen his suffering when they had found him, watched as he leaned on the wall desperately for support since he could barely even stand, barely even strong enough to force any words out of his mouth as much as he had tried.  
And even when he had been able to gather the strength to even speak, it resulted in him coughing up enough blood to fill at least a lung and a half before falling into one of the deepest of sleeps there was.

"W-why would you lie to me?..." Zyro asked softly, almost as if expecting Gingka to open his eyes and say something, _anything_... He had always shown up. Shown up at the most peculiar yet fortunate of moments, of which Zyro never regretted sharing with him in the friendship that they had.

"I-I mean.. I don't exactly blame you, since..." Zyro's words came out in stutters, his voice shaky as he said these words to someone who might not be able to hear him anyway, but... He hoped that in some way, he could.  
"You didn't tell me..." He said, "You didn't tell any of us, and you hid it for so long, and... I just want to understand why... Why did you leave this to _me_?..."

Zyro let out a small sigh, leaning forward and placing the bottom half of his face in his hands, perhaps from the exhaustion of the day even though not much had happened despite Dynamis's explanation to them.  
Zyro's blue eyes looked up towards the redhead, who lay there motionless with only the smallest rise and fall of his chest to show that he was still breathing.  
His eyes looked at the paleness of his face, looking down and seeing his scarf hanging very loosely around his neck as to not choke him, resting mostly on his chest rather than anywhere really near his neck - about the middle of his chest is where the blankets were pulled up it, his arms resting on either side of him calmly with his sleeves rolled down. He had noted that Gingka's body temperature had been colder than normal awhile ago, but he had just passed it off as no big deal because...

He hadn't really suspected anything back then, seeing as how Gingka seemed to be to withstand warm temperatures, but... Maybe it had just been because he had so.. Cold.

And yet, it almost felt like Gingka had rolled his sleeves down for a different reason other than just to keep himself a bit warmer...  
Just like he had been keeping his scarf up around his neck for whatever reason, almost as if to hide something from them.  
He was hesitant on whether he should actually try and see.. Whether he should actually look or just leave him be.  
But something just compelled him to slowly reach over and take Gingka's nearest sleeve, gently pushing it up even though he knew that Gingka wasn't likely to even stir or feel it.  
Zyro's breath shook as he rolled it up to just above his elbow, swallowing the lump in his throat as his breath hitched.  
Almost what appeared to be the softest of burn marks were here and there, barely being different from his normal skin texture and tone yet still noticeable if he hadn't had his jacket on - the fact that he was incredibly pale didn't help much either.  
The ginger-ravenette looked up towards Gingka's pale face, seeing him just breathing softly in his endless sleep with a peaceful look on his face, the heart monitor continuously beating every 4 seconds to show that he was still alive.  
Zyro's breath came out shakily as he carefully reached out and placed his bare fingers near where the light burn marks started, almost as if feeling his skin.  
But almost as soon as Zyro touched Gingka's skin, he pulled his hand away hurriedly as something seemed to shoot through him.

What... What was that?...

He had felt it before.

Several times before, actually..

Like when Gingka had given him a new light bulb for his night light, he had touched his arm and his hand and it had felt so...  
Surreal, hypnotic, like his touch was something entirely foreign.. Another time he couldn't quite remember, since he had likely been sleeping, but it was the day that Gingka had taken him stargazing down by the river.  
He had been deeply asleep, but he had still felt the redhead's touch of carrying him back to the B-Pit, and he had just snuggled into him for a reason that not even he knew.

Maybe it was instinct, but... The last time was about when he had asked Gingka if was, in fact, dying, when they had stargazed together.  
When Gingka had hugged him, it just automatically made him feel a sense of security, that everything _was_ going to be alright, that there really was nothing to worry about.  
And when Gingka had kissed his forehead - which strangely, had not bothered him as much as it would have - that feeling stayed genuine and he had just been fully convinced that Gingka was okay, that nothing was happening.  
As if that gesture had just sealed the deal and made him believe that.

He didn't know why, but Gingka's touch just.. Almost didn't feel real... But maybe that was just him overthinking things.  
Zyro sighed once again, his breath shaky as gently reached out and rolled down Gingka's sleeve to his wrist so that the 2 sides were symmetrical, and he could also somewhat stay warm despite now naturally just being cold.

"I _will_ save you, Gingka.." Zyro said, swallowing the bile in his throat and letting one small tear roll down his cheek and freeze as if time had simply stopped, "I promise.."  
Zyro stood up from his seat, heading towards the door and giving the comatose redhead one last glance before leaving the room.  
Once outside, he stood there for a moment, immersed in the almost endless silence that was broken by the faint sound of Gingka's heart monitor.  
He knew that he couldn't let this get the better of him, none of them could - Kira had openly said that they had to stay grounded in order to actually do anything to try and find Alcorin.  
Wherever he was...

* * *

"Well, you seem happier..." She said solemnly, walking into the room which had become almost routine to her for how often she did it.  
A small giggle escaped Alcorin's lips, raising a hand to his mouth in what was almost a girly type of gesture.  
"Well, lets just say that my little talk with that friend of mine went fairly well..." The dark bluenette said with a small chuckle in his voice, a tone that would've frightened anyone except for her. She didn't feel anything anyway.

"That seemed rather quick..." She said calmly, "It must've gone well.."  
Another giggle rang throughout the metal room, echoing off of the walls several times.  
"Oh believe me, my pet.." He said, glancing back at her with golden-brown eyes that had existed just as long as another's, "It did... Yes, I may have been a little hard on him but I think he's gone through it enough times in his pathetic existence."  
The eeriest of smiles crossed his face, "It just makes me feel so much better, knowing that someone who has tried to thwart my plans has been 'taught a lesson'... Now all that's really left is to watch them suffer as the inevitable happens..."  
She tilted her head in the slightest bit, perhaps a hint of interest in the soul that did not feel emotion.

"You're going to kill him?..." She questioned blankly, not really caring about what actions he took or what he did with the fate of the dying Legendary Blader of which she knew they were all incapable of stopping.  
"Oh no, not just yet.." Alcorin said with a hint of amusement, his eyes flashing brilliantly with that sadistic joy of his that made him seem almost complete, and yet it did not suit the face that he had of another, "I want to watch them suffer a bit more... You know, maybe save a few memories of their broken faces for a rainy day... Besides, their looking for me anyway.. And what kind of person would I be to just kill their dear little friend when they could still have hope that he could _ever_ wake up before he dies? Say final words?... Say he's glad he met them?..."  
She saw a look of pure disgust cross his face before it was replaced with that little smile of his that was usually always there upon his flawless features, "All they hang on to is false hope... Dynamis thinks he can find a way to save him with that little girl of his.. What was her name again?..."

"Maru..."

"Yes, her... But you and me both know that there is no way to undo his fate... Well, I guess there is _one_ way... But we keep that between us, now don't we?..."  
He received no answer from her, but he - of course - didn't need one. Alcorin simply giggled and turned towards her a bit after glancing at the screens in front of them.

"Well, how about we let them search?.." He suggested, though it was more of an order than anything else, "After all, they may have a chance of finding this place, but the chances aren't entirely high... But one of them knows.. And that's where that little child comes in useful... He knows.. But not even he knows it yet.."  
This, for once, made her feel something - though it was something that was merely a confused feeling, perhaps concern showing through the shell that eternally covered the one that she used to be.  
"But doesn't them finding you go entirely against everything that you've worked for?..." She questioned, "Does it not go against your plans entirely and instead put them in danger to being ruined?"  
A small laugh escaped Alcorin's lips, evidently not bothered by the fact that that may indeed be true - but Alcorin always had a reason for everything he did. She knew that all too well.

"Oh, my pet..." He sighed in amusement, a small yet malicious smile on his want, "You clearly don't understand... I _want_ them to find me.."...

* * *

Dynamis had gone back with Hikaru and Tsubasa earlier that day, somewhat embarrassed about the fact that several of the workers had greeted him so formally and had seemed flustered when that they were suddenly meeting a Legendary Blader - some had even bowed down at a 90 degree angle which Dynamis had humbly said was not needed.  
Ever since then, he had been mostly on the upper floors with Hikaru and Tsubasa, mainly catching up with Tsubasa for a bit for old times sake after never even really hearing from each other for about 7 years - he had later gone with Hikaru who had humbly suggested that he come and see if he was capable of helping them in finding Alcorin.

Unfortunately, he had said that he was unable to do anything to help and said that they should probably go with what they currently doing.  
It was after that did he head back to Tsubasa's office, keeping silent as the doors slid open and seeing Tsubasa on the moving, catching the words that he was saying but unable to hear what was being said on the other end.  
"I-I'm sorry, but I can't say I've see anyone like that.." The Director said with a thoroughly confused face as he seemed to be answering a question, "If there's anything you'd like me to do to help you, I'd be glad too... Oh, alright.. Okay.. Goodbye."

With those last chosen words did Tsubasa lower the phone and hang it up, sighing and leaning forward on his desk for a moment before glancing up, seeing Dynamis standing there with a solemn look on his face.  
"Who was that?" The grey-purplenette asked, tilting his head in the slightest bit of out curiosity.  
Tsubasa simply shrugged, seemingly not to worried about the subject of it.

"I think it was Tokyo.." He answered, "I don't know where they were calling from, but they asked me about seeing some test subject that went missing a few years ago.."  
Dynamis raised an eyebrow, somewhat intrigued by the odd matter.  
"Why would they be calling now if they went missing years ago?" The Legendary Blader asked, "I don't even think you were the Director until 3 years ago."

"Three and a half, actually." Tsubasa corrected politely, earning a small chuckle and a simple nod from Dynamis, "Well, I don't think it really matters.. Anyway, how did you're little 'session' with Hikaru go."  
Dynamis smiled a bit and shrugged softly.  
"I think if they keep looking, they could definitely be on to something.." The grey-purplenette responded, "Believe me, Tsubasa.. I want to find who did this to Gingka just as much as any of you do... I don't know where he is, but I know that if anyone can find him, you can."

Tsubasa smiled softly, a softer look in his eyes than he had usually showed lately.  
It was at least good to know that Dynamis would try to help them in their search for Alcorin, was well in what could be a vain attempt to try and save the dying redhead from a fate that was always inevitable no matter how hard anybody tried.  
Everyone always tried to run from death, and that would never end well for anyone since they were always creeping towards death with every step they took.  
But... Even so, if they couldn't save Gingka from the fate that awaited him through his suffering, the least they could do was hunt down Alcorin and find him... Find him and bring justice to why he had done this in the first place.  
Yet that was just the question... Why _did_ he do it?...

"Tsubasa, are you alright?" Dynamis questioned out of slight concern, catching the silvernette's attention and making him realize that he had probably be drifting off into space for a moment.  
"Oh, yeah.." The silverette said and brushed his hair back a bit, even though it went directly back into place as it always did, "I'll probably the first to admit it... But I think it was actually a good thing that both you and Maru kept this whole.. Secret for as long as you did."  
Dynamis's eyes widened in the slightest bit, this statement definitely being new to his ears.  
"It may sound weird to you, Dynamis, but I do know that you did because you both wanted to help Gingka if possible." Tsubasa said, explaining his reasoning, "And that's the same as what you're doing now.. Minus the part where you're both about continent or two apart and observing him through her.. And I don't blame you. Because I know we've all been telling a few lies."  
A smile made its way upon Dynamis's icy yet delicate features.  
"Well, we're all human.." He said calmly, "I don't think anyone really has the place to blame anyone for lying." Tsubasa chuckled softly, and was about to say something else before the sound of the door opening came to them and Hikaru hurried in the room.

"Director!" She exclaimed, breathing heavily from perhaps running all the way up a few floors from the one that she had previously been on.  
"Hey, Hikaru." Tsubasa greeted, slightly taken back by Hikaru suddenly rushing in, "Have you found anything?"  
After taking a few moments to catch her breath, Hikaru finally spoke clearly.  
"I think that we may have been able to figure something out," She said, drawing the attention of both Tsubasa and Dynamis as she spoke, "Its not clear, but several of my co-workers had picked up something the day that Alcorin gave us that message. Not even we really do much with it, but a program in the WBBA's network always automatically reads over and track any calls or messages that are given, sent, or come from or to us."

Tsubasa's eyes widened slightly at this news - he never remembered ever being told that that was in the WBBA's network.  
Of course, it had probably been there for a long time, maybe even before Ryo had ever been the Director of the WBBA.  
"What did it say?" He asked, fully intrigued by what Hikaru had to say about it.

"We weren't able to pick up much." Hikaru said, "Wherever he spoke to us from, it was dimly picked up off of a reception tower near the edge of town. The signal that it picked up was very small, but it was enough for us to identify it as something that had come from him.. We don't know where he is, but we do know _something_ that could help us."

Both Dynamis and Tsubasa glanced at each other, both somewhat coming into a realization of what she was talking about before looking back to her.  
"He's somewhere near Metal Bey City..." Tsubasa concluded, and earning a slight nod from Hikaru before she spoke once again.

"Tsubasa..." She said, using his real name for the first time in a long while, "He could be _in_ Metal Bey City..."


	20. Chapter 19 - I Don't Cry

Chapter 19 - I Don't Cry

* * *

"He could be _in_ the city?.." Ren repeated after Tsubasa's explanation to them once they had come to the WBBA headquarters the next day when they had been told that an urgent matter had come up and it was important that they hear it.  
Kira - of course - didn't come with them, as he didn't fancy the idea of being at the WBBA where no one was too fond of him, so he offered to stay behind along with Benkei to watch Gingka's condition...  
Not that much would really change, but someone did have to watch over him with the state he was in. He had probably gone back to the other ex-DNA bladers by now, but its not like he would even say anything to them anyway.

"Yeah.." Tsubasa answered, glancing over at Hikaru who stood beside him with her laptop, "From what we could pick up, he's either near or in Metal Bey City, so its a start to finding him.."  
Madoka sighed, looking down at the ground with her hands in front of her, neatly together like she usually had them.  
"Well, at least we know he's not on the other side of the world..."

"Well, it still doesn't answer where he is.." Shinobu said as he shifted his weight onto his other leg and letting the one he had been previously on rest a bit.  
"No, but it just give us a close range of where we should be looking." Tsubasa said, looking at the light-haired blader before his eyes fell on the rest of them, "With the few people in the WBBA that partially know about the situation, we're going to see if we can possibly track down Alcorin's location.. We're not guaranteed _if_ we'll come up with anything, but we're going to search the city... Hopefully without drawing attention."  
Kite raised an eyebrow, pushing his glances up on his nose.  
"No offense, but I think that's nearly impossible..."  
"They had their ways." Madoka said, looking over towards the brunette before looking back to Tsubasa.

"Meanwhile, I want the rest of you watch Gingka's condition and make sure that this stays as secretive as possible," Tsubasa said, glancing over them all again, "We don't want to draw any unnecessary attention towards us."  
Several nods were exchanged between them all before looking back to Tsubasa.  
"Still not very comforting knowing that psychopath is someone near here..." Ren said with a small shiver, silently scratching her right cheek a bit - they had asked why she kept doing that, but she simply claimed that it had felt weird for a few weeks, and she had honestly no idea why.  
"Doesn't really comfort anyone..." Zyro said in a slightly subdued voice, his eyes absently wandering elsewhere out the windows.  
He now did this rather often, seeing as he too had been badly affected by what had been happening to Gingka for so long - they simply left him alone about it, save for Kira who sometimes even smacked him on the underside of the head to get him to pull it together.

Tsubasa simply glanced at Zyro with concerned eyes before looking away and at the rest of them.  
"I suggest that you all try and keep everything as normal as possible..." The silverette advised, "Madoka, you should probably open up the B-Pit, since you haven't in the last few days.. You too, Benkei."  
Madoka nodded without a word, as did Benkei though he was a bit less awkward about it. The reason for Madoka's slight uncomfortableness in that idea was that there would be someone dying upstairs, not to mention that it was her best friend.  
"Alright.." Tsubasa said, concluding their debate and ending it before turning towards Hikaru, "Lets go and see if we can find anything else."  
The bluenette simply nodded and followed the Director out of the room, leaving them all to bicker with themselves.  
As they left, Dynamis turned and walked over to Madoka and Maru, who both looked over at him once he spoke.

"May I have a word?" The grey-purplenette asked, standing in front of them both with that cold stature of his.  
"Oh, yeah." Madoka said, cracking a small smile for him.  
"I hope you won't mind, Madoka, but I might need to borrow your little mechanic for awhile." Dynamis said, gesturing down to Maru who was looking up at him with her lavender eyes.  
Madoka's eyes slightly widened at this, and she somewhat stuttered over her words as she tried to say something in response to that.  
"O-oh, um..." She said awkwardly, "Uh, s-sure... Uh, w-what do you need her for?..."

"Well, its pretty complicated..." Dynamis started, averted his eyes for a moment before looking back to her, "But I may need Maru in order to try and see if there really is a way to save Gingka or not.. And it involves going back to the Mist Mountain Shrine."  
Madoka's eyes widened at this statement, looking down at her student who looked back to her silently before they both looked back to Dynamis.  
"Umm.. I don't know..." The brunette said in weary tone, unsure of what exactly to say, "W-wouldn't you know if it said something in there about it or something?.."  
"There are things in the Shrine that have not even come to my knowledge," Dynamis said calmly, looking at the brunette with a solemn expression, "Besides... Me and Maru _have_ been keeping in contact, so chances are that we'll both know what to look for. If you refuse, I understand..."

"No, no, no!" Madoka said hurriedly, turquoise eyes widening slightly as he suggested that she would refuse - she had almost immediately wanted to straight up say no, but she knew the consequences that could follow with that, "I-I wouldn't mind.. I mean, if Maru's okay with it..."  
Madoka looked wearily down towards her student along with Dynamis.  
"Are you, Maru?" She asked the pinkette, who simply gave her teacher the sweetest of smiles.  
"If its to help Gingka, then I'm more than okay with it, Chief." Maru claimed, "And Dynamis _is_ right when he says that we're the two that would know somewhat about what exactly we're looking for."  
Madoka stared at the girl for a moment before simply smiling.  
"Well..." The brunette began, quickly thinking it over in her mind with a soft look, "If you insist.. My Bey-fixing skills are a little rusty, but I think I can manage."

"Don't worry about it, Madoka!" Ren said as she came up beside the shop owner, "We'll help you."  
The blonde gestured to both herself and Kite, who was still there with Eight and not saying very much - Kite glanced at Ren in a confused and surprised way before just shrugging it off; they all wanted to help in any way they could, even Kira, though he still greatly denied it with a fierce intensity that he often didn't show except when he was getting Zyro to get it together.  
Madoka simply gave a soft smile to the blonde.  
"Thanks Ren." She said, "I appreciate it."  
The brunette gave Maru one last glance before she made her way over to speak with Benkei.

Dynamis and Maru watched her as she left before the grey-purplenette knelt down to the girl, Maru looking over as she held her laptop in her arms.  
"You're positive you're okay with coming with me, Maru?" Dynamis asked, to make sure that Maru was sure in her decision.  
The pinkette simply nodded.  
"Yeah." She said, "I won't say that we _will_ find anything, but... I want to try!.. Because Gingka doesn't deserve to die this way... Nobody should have to die that way.."  
Dynamis's eyes softened, his expression still with the beauty and cold of ice - reaching out gently, he placed a hand on her small shoulder.  
"I know..." Dynamis said, "I'm an old friend of Gingka's, like Madoka, Benkei, and Tsubasa.. I've seen who he is and how much he'd put his friends before himself any day... And the fact that he doesn't deserve to die the way he currently is, is something that we can both agree on."  
Maru smiled sadly, looking into Dynamis's eyes with her lavender ones before he stood up and walked away, leaving the office as well and leaving a cold feeling behind that always was him, as Madoka and Benkei knew.  
"Well, I guess most things are settled?" Ren questioned as she scratched her right cheek, the skin gently becoming a light shade of pink as she did.

Nobody really answered except for the silence - that was really all that remained for them.  
That and the feeling of uneasiness that crept over them all as it continuously had for the last few days...

* * *

Kira had returned to the other ex-DNA bladers way earlier than they had expected him too, since he was usually gone for the whole day until night as they had noticed in the last three days - but this time, he had only been gone for maybe an hour or two before coming back and simply laying on his bed without a word.  
The ex-DNA bladers - of course - stayed quiet as Kira slept, a couple like Yoshio and Spike heading into other rooms since they mainly had a harder time at keeping quiet than Genjuro, Captain Arrow, and Baihu usually did.  
Either way, all of them knew not to disturb Kira while he was sleeping, which had been for quite some time - Baihu had taken a temporary hobby of glancing over at Kira every now and then as he slept, seeing the peaceful face of their leader that they rarely ever saw from him of which Captain Arrow and Genjuro sometimes even had to steal a glance at...

Kira's features, his expression, his stature, was always cold and rather malicious, yet usually with the smallest tugs of a smile on there had usually came from his sadistic nature of joy that came from others' pain.  
But this face was something that he rarely showed, even whenever he was sleeping - usually because he was facing away from all of them.  
But this one was calm, peaceful in a way that they had never even really seen of Kira towards anything or anyone, and it certainly was surprising.  
Though even so, they all said nothing, making as little sound as possible as Genjuro chewed on his dandelion like always, Baihu lay on his stomach with his head propped up on his hands while his feet hung in the air, and Captain Arrow was reading a book that he found from somewhere - though it was likely just one of those super-hero type books or something since he seemed to be into that kind of stuff.

Baihu frequently began to grow bored of the silence, wanting to say something and jump around a bit like the young kid that he currently was, but he knew that he definitely shouldn't - Kira was not a happy person whenever you woke him up, he was more like one of those people that wanted to shoot anybody who talked to them in the morning.  
He wasn't really that much fun either way since he had restricted what they could and couldn't do now that the tournament was cancelled.  
The black-haired blader sighed softly before glancing over at Kira again like he had several times over the span of however-long-it-been, seeing him on his side with his hands up by his head while facing opposite the wall.  
But this time, he noticed something quite odd - even startling at that fact. Kira's expression wasn't the same...  
He oh so lightly gripped the sheets in a way that didn't have him balling his hands into fists, his lips brought up in a soft frown, and his one eye squeezed shut while what appeared to be small beads of clear liquid hung on to his delicate eye lashes while... Something went ran down his cheek.

At this, Baihu hurriedly sat up leaned forward a bit to get a better look, despite their leader being down and across from him, but even so... Was Kira... Crying?

Genjuro glanced over at the child when seeing his quick movement, and saw the interesting way that he was sitting and staring at Kira.  
"What are you doing, kid?..." Genjuro questioned in a quiet voice, knowing full well along with the other two that Kira was still sleeping and that they - at all costs - should not wake him up.  
"Look..." Baihu said quietly, pointing towards Kira and drawing the slightly interested attention of both Genjuro and Capatin Arrow.  
All 3 of them got up from where they were, wandering over while Captain Arrow and Genjuro looked at what Baihu was gesturing to.  
Both of them nearly gasped at this, nonetheless surprised at what they were seeing.

Kira was... Crying.

That is one thing that they had never seen or even heard of before - Kira never cried.  
They had never even been capable of imagining him crying, for it was not in Kira's nature to ever even really show any weakness - but now... This was something entirely different.  
All 3 of them crept closer as they looked at Kira, seeing a small tear make its way down the short distance from Kira's eyelashes to the bed sheets, making them only slightly damp in one spot.  
It was almost a surreal sight to see as the tears fell from Kira's one eye, seeing his lower lip quiver lightly as a barely audible whimpering sound emitted from them.  
"You're both seeing this, right?" Baihu questioned as he came up in between Genjuro and Captain Arrow, all of them looking at Kira intently which they simply couldn't help doing - it was too curious of a matter for them to perhaps even care about the consequences.

"It doesn't seem to be fake..." Captain Arrow said in a quiet voice as they all sat there about 2 and a half feet or less away from Kira's face, "He is sleeping after all, and even I doubt that Master Kira is able to fake anything in his sleep.."

"How do you fake something unconsciously?..." Genjuro asked while raising an eyebrow and glancing over at the dark-haired blader. Captain Arrow simply shrugged a bit.  
"I'm just saying.." He inquired, "Seeing _this_ from Kira is definitely an unexpected and peculiar sight..."

"I'll say!" Baihu said rather loudly, which resulted in both Captain Arrow and Genjuro glaring over at him and telling him to be quiet.  
But all of them froze the moment they heard a soft groan from behind them, slowly looking back towards the leader that they had previously been looking at as his one eye slowly fluttered open, his vision slightly blurry from the tears that he unconsciously shed in his sleep.  
The three were unable to move as Kira blinked and wiped away the tears in his eyes with the hand that was closest to his face before finally being able to see clearly - but a scowl soon replaced the peace that had once been on his features.

"What are you three doing?" He questioned, sitting up sharply and causing the 3 of them to fall back and away from Kira, who was definitely not happy.

"Forgive us, Master Kira!" Captain Arrow said almost immediately and gave a sharp 90 degree bow, "We did not mean to disturb you.."  
Kira rolled his one eye slightly from how peculiar this was of Captain Arrow but no less how he always was.  
His gaze then shifted over to Baihu and Genjuro who both did rather well at hiding their fear that Kira could do something to them as they had disobeyed the order of not waking him up.  
"What were you even doing?" The multicolor-haired blader asked, his expression showing that he was looking for a good answer.  
"Well, uh..." Genjuro started, unsure of what to say as he tried to come up with a reason in his panicking mind.

"We saw your expression when you were sleeping and we ended up watching you sleep.." Baihu said as he shifted from one foot to the other, his hands placed behind his back as he looked away even with his closed eyes.  
"And _what_ exactly was so interesting about my expression?" Kira asked sternly, looking at them all with an expression that was frightening to even think about, glaring daggers into their souls and threatening to push them straight through unless he got a good answer.  
"And..." Baihu said almost shakily, "Y-you were... Crying.." That was the moment when everything stopped.  
Kira's one eye widened as his expression nearly went blank, that dangerous aura disappearing from around him and everything being replaced with silence.  
No one said a word as they all looked to Kira, who was staring at Baihu as if he were some sort of alien from a different dimension, something that they had never dreamed of seeing, but... Beyond this blank face, they could see the emotion in his eyes - denial, it looked like, defiance, as if remembering something but fighting so desperately to bury it.  
It was only after several moments of frightening silence did Kira close his eyes and stand up from his bed, a cold look on his face that didn't say too much about him.

"I _don't_ cry..." Kira said coldly, opening his one eye and looking over them all one last time before walking away towards the door, "And _don't_ do that again.."  
The 3 never had time to respond before Kira left the room, making his way down the hall while at the same time trying to watch where he was going, granted it was usually just a singular hallway.

He didn't cry... He never cried.

Crying was something that he hated, showing weakness that he always suppressed..

He had no weakness, and crying would only make it seem like he did, but...

 _He was alone..._

Everything that seemed like a weakness to him, he denied, fighting off the feeling and replacing it with the cold and sadistic nature that had just grown to be him.

 _He sat on the stairs, like always... He could hear the other kids who were older than him playing and running and laughing.. He never fit in with them.._

He didn't have a weakness..

 _He never really understood where his mom went.. He didn't fully understand why he was here, but... He didn't question it. He just wanted to go home.._

There was nothing for him to cry about...

 _No one liked him anyway... They pushed him around, teased him, hated him... No one cared about him.. Maybe not even his own mother.._

He didn't cry..

 _He buried his face in his knees, barely able to hold the tears in as he sat on the stairs, hearing the other kids running around and chasing each other like they usually did, maybe two of them running past him and up with the stairs without paying any mind to him.. He could never be like them... He could never fit in.._

He never cried..

 _He wanted to go home... That was all.. The ones who had taken him in had welcomed him to their home, caring enough to at least take care of him and what not, but... This wasn't home.. Not the home that he remembered.._

With the swiftness of a fox, Kira turned and slammed his fist into the metal wall, a feeling of pain spreading from his knuckles to his wrist and up his arm, being sensed by half of the other nerves in his body and receiving a dull ache or a sharp pain.  
Goddammit... This was twice now.  
Why... Why did he have to have this weakness from his past that he no longer cared about, a past that meant nothing to and yet somehow had come back to haunt him like his life had every day back then?...  
Kira irritably let his hand fall back down to his side, seeing the smallest dent of the wall that didn't do much to help his quivering hand - he was going to break something in there if he kept that up.  
Kira let out a breath trying to get his body not to shake even as he brought his hand up and held it in his other one, only able to stand there and try to shake off the pain that still emitted from it but was slowly fading.

Kira hated crying... He hardly ever cried, like that reflex had just faded away and hardened up into stone throughout the years, barely even a feeling for him to have anymore.  
He never felt tears coming to his eyes, he never cried consciously for as long as he could remember... But maybe what Baihu said is why he had never felt himself crying, why he had never shed any tears for a long time - because he cried in his sleep.  
He never really noticed it, and began thinking of it as just normal for the pillow or the bed sheets by his face to be slightly damp or for his vision to be blurry when he woke up; then again, blurry vision when you woke up was always a common thing.  
He cried in his sleep... And they had seen him crying.  
His teammates of all people - sure, it wasn't as bad as if Zyro or someone from the WBBA had seen him cry because it was still bad enough to make him silently at himself.  
Why?... Why did he have this damned weakness?...

 _"Kira..."_

Said multicolor-haired blader gasped softly at the sound of his name, turning while forgetting about the dull ache in his hand and glancing both ways down the hall - he saw no one. Was he just imagining that, or...

 _"Kira..."_

Kira stiffened slightly, looking both ways down the hall again in search for whoever had spoke, but... There still wasn't anyone.

 _"Kira..."_

It was a small voice, barely above a whisper that sounded like it came from inside his head, yet came from all around him.  
A voice that was weak, as if injured, almost as quiet as a mouse yet sounding like a desperate plea.

Almost... Like a child.

 _"Kira..."_

The voice shook this time, a hint of what seemed to be pain overcoming it from what Kira could identify, but... Where was this voice coming from? There wasn't anyone in the hallway but him, as far as he knew.  
"Who are you?..." Kira asked, looking around in vain to try and find the source of where the voice was coming from, " _Where_ are you?..."

 _"Kira..."_

It said again, their voice shaking and quivering, perhaps belonging to someone so delicate they could break with just the touch of a feather.

 _"Help them..."_

Kira's eye widened at the words it had spoken, being different ones from the ones that they had said so far, which had simply just been his name.  
"What?..." The Bahamoote blader questioned, ceasing to look both ways down the hall and listening out of pure interest despite finding this strange all the same.

 _"Help them... Please..."_

"Who are you?" Kira asked again, looking around once more to try and find whoever was talking to no avail.

 _"Kira... Please help him..."_

Kira had no idea what to say. Nor did he have any direct idea of what to do... Where was this voice even coming from?  
Who was talking to him?  
And how in the world did they even know his name?..

 _"He's wilting... Slowly..."_

Wilting?  
That was really weird term to use, but Kira knew what it stood for well enough.  
But... Who was this voice talking about?  
And _what_ was it talking about?

 _"Hurry to him..."_

In the blink of an eye, everything went silent. Kira stood there, his thoughts mixed up and confusing for several moments of which felt like hours, perhaps even an eternity as he stood there.  
What just happened?...  
His heartbeat was all that he could hear, his short breaths sounding like dangerous winds in the dreaded silence that passed over him, unable to wrap anything around his head at this point.  
Who had even been talking to him?  
What had they even really meant?.. Kira lifted his head, looking both ways down the hall once more before simply scoffing.  
"Right..." Was all that he could say before he simply continued on down the hall, the ache in his hand now faded into nothing...

* * *

Alcorin's eyes watched him, darting from one screen to the next several times before he came back to the one he had started at, repeating the cycle over several times before he grew bored and changed the pattern a bit yet still with the same screens - even so, he continued to watch him.  
To watch all of them with eyes that could see so normal to the naked eye - but when you looked deeper, past everything that stood in plain sight in front of him, there was something far more terrifying than he himself.  
He pressed on that matter for what seemed like eternity, but it never bothered him unlike it could've that pathetic little child that at one time might've been him.  
Yet those times were long over.

"I will say I'm rather impressed..." The dark bluenette said as he heard the sound of delicate footsteps coming towards him, "You do rather well, in playing along... Leading them straight too me without even suspecting a thing..."

"It is the orders you gave me..." She said with no more than the calmness of his blank voice, "If it is what you wish of me, then I will do so.."  
A soft chuckle was emitted from him, a small smirk on his face as he stood there and now stared aimlessly at the screens in front of him.

"That's what I like to hear.." He said with a venomous voice that was still so charming all the same, like someone who was about to rip your throat out over a nice and peaceful dinner, "You're so obedient... Perhaps its just a trait that sticks with you no matter how loyal you are to me.."  
A soft noise was heard from her, a gentle sigh through her nose as if silently just agreeing with him, as she often - always - did.  
"Kira Hayama still poses as a threat to you, does he not?..." She questioned, evidently not fully caring either way from the emotions that she did no longer have.

"Oh, most certainly..." Alcorin said with a small nod and looking back at the screen, narrowing his golden-brown eyes, "But... I can find a way to work around him.. He's just another little pawn in the chess game towards whether little Gingka Hagane lives or dies... Well, really, he's more like a knight, able to move in all shapes and wherever he wants... That or a tower. I don't know, I never truly _was_ that fond of the game."

She tilted her head to the right in the slightest bit, the smallest bit of interest coming to her from the few remains of raw emotions that she had left.  
"And what do you have planned for him, exactly?.." She asked, her voice nothing more than a ghost of her former self that was so close to fully disappearing.  
A small giggle came from Alcorin, one that she had grown to know for the time that she had been loyal to him, not saying a word as he came down to the actual ground level of where she stood and came up to her, lifting her chin up slightly with the tips of his delicate features.  
"Patience, my pet.." He said in an amused tone, his face close to hers with that malicious look in his eye that almost didn't suit the face that he had, taking away what could've been the most innocent of expressions and turning it into something that had existed long before, "Everything will play out exactly as I want it to... So you needn't worry whether this will all work or not.. Maru and Dynamis will return to Africa and... They will find nothing.. Sure, they'll be gone from my sight, but that only leaves me with two less people to worry about... For now, at least."

With a gentleness that still receded from him, he let go of her chin by slowly taking his fingers away and making his way back to where he had been standing, slowly yet surely as always.  
"And the others?..." She questioned, "Kira is allowing them to stay at ground level so that they'll actually be able to work together while staying at ground level... What plans do you have for them?..."  
A small giggle escaped Alcorin's lips as he made his way back to where he had been, gazing at the screens in front of him that made up most of the half-circle room.  
His golden-brown eyes rested upon the comatose redhead, breathing softly in his endless sleep that would - eventually - become an eternal one.  
His eyes flashed red for a moment, a sense of nostalgia almost coming over him like a small wave of water on the edge of a beach, the ones that he had never seen.

He had known what he had had to do the moment he had left that retched life of his behind, known that only he was capable of doing what he knew had to be done... And it would not be in vain.  
After so many years, so many countless years he would finally have him back...  
He would have him back, and everything would be his and his alone. Though he cared about nothing else, having no other thing that swallowed his heart whole whenever he thought about it, like the darkness that had corrupted the child that still clung onto to him and whimpered in the corner.  
His mere shadow would be powerless against him once he had 'him' back... And then everything could be the way that it should've been, all those years ago.  
And Alcorin would stop at absolutely nothing until he finally got what he wanted.

"You needn't worry, my dear pet..." He said softly, his voice almost that of the one that he used to be so long ago before any of this existed, "The plans that I have for them... For little Zyro Kurogane.. Are something that even _you_ would approve of genuinely. Besides..."

He looked back to her, a dark chuckle escaping him as he gazed at her with golden-brown eyes that had existed as long as another's had, "I _always_ come out on top.."


	21. Chapter 20 - Nameless Words

Chapter 20 - Nameless Words

* * *

Madoka, Zyro and a few of the others had come to see Maru and Dynamis off at the airport to Africa the next morning.  
Madoka had openly given Maru a few hugs and some kisses on the cheek for good luck of which the pinkette was only minorly embarrassed about - Dynamis thought of it as rather cute.

"We should be back within the week if everything goes alright." The Guardian said as Maru came back to his side, now simply waiting for their plane to be called.  
"Hopefully, we'll _have_ a week.." Madoka said with grave expression, her hands together in front of her as she looked down.  
"Don't worry, Madoka.." Dynamis said reassuringly, "If me and Maru have to search the Shrine inch by inch, we will.. But do be sure to contact us if Gingka's... Condition... Gets any worse."  
That was the one thing with being out in public.  
They could only speak vaguely of what was happening with Gingka and about the tournament being cancelled - having everyone know what was going on with _the_ Gingka Hagane was something that they definitely did not need at this point in time.

"I hope your trip goes well, Maru." Ren said with a smile, receiving one back from the girl as she stood by Dynamis's side.  
"I hope so.." She said halfheartedly, a slightly weary look in her eyes.  
"Well, we'll cover for you until you get back." Kite said as simultaneously hung onto Eight who was hanging from the arm of his lab coat, a hobby that his little brother often had for fun - in this case, it was to at least try and get a bit of the tension to wear off.  
"Yeah, I'm sure we can handle without you for a little while." Madoka said with a kind smile, "I used to be the one fixing Gingka's and the other's Beys back in the days... I might as well have had to do it like I needed to breathe."  
This emitted a soft chuckle from Dynamis, who remembered a few of those times pretty clearly since when they had all met back during the Nemesis Crisis.  
Their soft bickering continued until they all heard the correct plane number on the overhead, signaling the 2's cue for it being time to leave.  
Dynamis's blue eyes turned towards Zyro, who had barely been saying anything the entire morning, much like yesterday as if something had continuously been on his mind.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Zyro Kurogane." The Legendary Blader said politely, gathering Zyro's attention - the Fire Blader, granted with his possible daydreaming, seemed to have heard him.  
"Uh.. You too." He said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head and ending up in avoiding eye contact.  
Though Dynamis didn't seem to mind that much.  
"I'll see you soon, Maru." Madoka said as she knelt down to her student once more and gently placed a kiss on her forhead, "Just, try and contact me when you get there, okay?" Maru giggled softly and smiled.  
"I'll be fine, Madoka." She said reassuringly, "I promise. I got Dynamis with me." Madoka didn't say anything for a moment before smiling wearily.

"Yeah, I guess you do..." She concluded.

"Come on, Maru." Dynamis said gently, patiently waiting on the pinkette, "We have to go."  
Maru simply nodded and gave Madoka one last smile before hurrying back to Dynamis's side, both of them heading off to board their plane for Africa.  
But just as they began to walk away, Dynamis stopped for moment, which resulted in Maru stopping too.  
The grey-purplenette looked back silently with a solemn expression, his blue-colored eyes fixating themselves on Zyro.

"Zyro." He began, managing to catch the ginger-ravenette's attention, "Be careful while you try and look for 'him'... Nothing could be as it seems."

With no further words other than that, both Dynamis and Maru turned and resumed walking away to board their flight.  
Everyone, especially Madoka, saw them off before they disappeared from their sight in the crowds of the airport, leaving them with nothing much else to do than to go back to the B-Pit or wherever they should be - though even so, they were all able to see the worry on Madoka's features.  
Zyro was the only one to speak out of all of them, which was rather surprising seeing as he hadn't said much in the last couple days.  
"She'll be okay, Madoka." The Fire Blader said reassuringly, causing Madoka to look towards him with her turquoise eyes and smile softly.  
"Yeah, I guess..." She said with a small sigh, "I mean, I do trust Dynamis, but... Maru was lying to me for half a month, and it was Dynamis who got her to in the first place, so..."

"He's a Legendary Blader." Shinobu reminded her, coming from behind Zyro in the conversation, "I don't think you have anything to worry about if that's the case."  
Madoka glanced back and forth from the two bladers, and then to the rest of the younger ones before smiling with a soft smile.  
"Yeah..." She said in a more reassured tone, "Well, we should probably head back. I gotta open up the B-Pit and those Beys aren't gonna fix themselves."  
The younger bladers all smiled - mostly for Madoka's, as well as Zyro's, benefit. None of them were taking Gingka's condition very well, seeing as how he was dying in a coma on the third floor of the building and how uncomfortable the air currently was to them.  
Nobody else that was entirely oblivious to what had been happening would have been able to feel it, but they all knew that it was there.  
They could all try and ignore it, play off the fact that THE Legendary Blader was dying upstairs and pretend like everything was normal, but it sadly just couldn't be that way.  
All of them were dearly worried that with every short breath Gingka took that it would be his last, that the heart monitor would beat once and then just stop, that every time they walked into his room, they would find that he had finally - finally? - gone within his coma.  
In the utmost summary, they didn't entirely have too much reassurance that Gingka would wake up - even if they were to save him, even they were to find Alcorin and he were to live, he was in a coma anyway.  
No matter if they could change the fact that he was dying like both Dynamis and Kira had suggested, Gingka very likely wouldn't wake up anyway.  
No matter what they did, either ending would come with a cost. And neither ending was very promising...

* * *

Takanosuke sat on the railing of the minorly used Zero-G stadium, gently keeping his balance as he intently watched Sakyo focus on training with his Ronin Dragoon - Sakyo never really did need training, considering how strong and skilled he was already.  
But maybe it was simply for Dragoon to spread its wings, fly like it hadn't in quite awhile since the tournament had been postponed.  
Takanosuke, as well as nearly everybody in Metal Bey City, could definitely understand that, seeing as everyone and their dog had been looking forward to seeing who would be Japan's Representatives.  
Yet no one really asked to many questions about why the BTF had been put on hold in the first place, despite the worries and concerns that invaded their minds and nearly made them all want to go crazy from not knowing.  
The worst thing ever, was not knowing - Takanosuke knew that all to well, but... He never really liked to bring any subjects of his past up.

But then again, this situation was way less than it was back then.  
Either way, the blonde was left to watch his friend silently train, being told not to say a word and break his concentration - he of course obliged, since Sakyo _was_ one of the only real friends that he had ever had, even if said redhead wasn't that social either.  
The Griffin blader simply sighed and closed his eyes, sitting there with his legs hanging over the railing while still trying to keep his balance at the same time.  
It was almost surreal to just sit there, calm and relaxed while the sound of Sakyo's spinning Ronin Dragoon rang delicately in his ears - that sound had always seemed to calm him down, as well a many bladers as if it was just a thing of instinct to find comfort in their Beys like they would real people.  
At least, that was always how he thought of it.  
Yet then, behind his closed eyelids, there was nothing.  
Not like the regular darkness that you would usually see when you usually closed your eyes with barely visible patterns and reddish tinge if it was light out, but just...

Nothing.

A blackness that he had never seen before, or maybe simply didn't remember experiencing.

But then there was something, something very faint that he couldn't make out, yet seeing it like he was in an entirely different place then there he had been with Sakyo.  
It was then that nothing turned into something, coming nearly too fast and too blurry for him to see properly, yet able to make out very faint things that he couldn't fully identify at that moment.

A world of looked like a mix of whites, blues, several people surrounding them and... Two pure white figures that he couldn't make out, yet with dots of red that may have been...

Eyes?

Then there was something else, seeing himself staring across the floor of somewhere that he couldn't recognize, someone walking towards him in a blurred haze that could've been of white or darker colors, but.. There was a sound, like..

Giggling...

Then there was one more thing, in a place that looked mixed up of colors of white, dull green, grey.. Someone sitting in the corner of a room that looked white, yet shadowed with a darkness and enlightened with a light that was confusing...

Someone with dark hair.. As it seemed...

The blonde let out a strangled cry, opening his eyes and losing all hold that he had had on where he was and falling forward, feeling pain shoot through the front face of his body all the way around as he hit the ground that was about 6 or so feet away, landing with a loud thud that echoed through the small arena with a loud thud.  
And it was definitely enough to catch Sakyo's attention through his concentration and snap his eyes open in turn.  
The redhead almost immediately looked back to where Takanosuke had been sitting, and instead seeing the one person he considered a friend laying face first on the ground from where he had originally been.  
With almost no hesitation did Sakyo call his Ronin Dragoon back to his hand and hurry over to the blonde, a solemn look still on his face yet his cold emotions still saying otherwise.  
Without saying a word, Sakyo gently place his hands under Takanosuke as said blonde started to shakily get up, groaning in pain from the fall that he had just taken.

"Ow..." The younger blader groaned, slowly getting up onto his knees with the help of Sakyo, who still said nothing with that usual expression of his.  
Takanosuke placed a hand to his head, his vision blurring at the edges as he could barely recall what had caused him to freak out all of a sudden and lose his balance on the railing, but...  
From what he was able to recall, it was something that didn't make any sense to him - that had never happened before, never in the entire short time of his life so far and yet it almost felt.. Comforting in a way, like it was something he shouldn't worry about, like something that was completely natural.  
But it didn't seem that way.  
"Are you okay?" Sakyo asked coldly, his voice barely changing yet still having a hint of worry behind his hardened exterior. Takanosuke's cerulean blue eyes looked up to his friend, who simply looked at him with his red eyes that barely had any emotion in them save for his mostly stoic nature.

"Yeah.." Takanosuke said as his entire body ached, averting his eyes away from Sakyo's to try and show that he wasn't weak.  
He knew he had several scrapes on his cheek and his hands from falling down face first, but trying to hide the fact that it still hurt wasn't entirely an easy thing to do.  
Sakyo seemed to see it anyway, yet didn't say a word as he stood up and extended a hand out to the younger blader, taking the blonde by surprise - still, the Dragoon blader said not a word as he gestured for his friend to let him help him stand up.  
Takanosuke - somewhat bewildered by this slight show of affection - hesitantly reached out and took Sakyo's hand, the stronger blader pulling him back up to his feet almost  
effortlessly.

"Thanks, Sakyo." Takanosuke said gratefully with a smile, which Sakyo simply responded to with that mostly solemn look of his, not saying a word.

"Let's go." Was all he did say in his rough voice before beginning to walk off, the blonde following behind him.  
He had to admit that he was a little flustered and embarrassed about what just happened, but those emotions faded except for the wonder that replaced it - what had he seen behind his closed eyes exactly?  
It seemed like something that was supposed to have a meaning, like it was trying to tell him something.  
It was so strange, and yet it felt like he shouldn't even worry about it, his conscious just throwing it aside and telling him it was nothing to worry about.  
Takanosuke honestly couldn't think of anything that could make what had had happened and what he had seen make sense.  
Well... That was a lie, now that he really thought about it.  
There _was_ one possible explanation...

* * *

Ren had kept the promise that her and Kite would help Madoka with fixing Beys as she was opening up the shop for the first time since Gingka had ultimately collapsed - Shinobu had even pitched in to help as well, which Madoka was exceedingly grateful for now that Maru was gone with Dynamis to Africa.  
She had seemed a little uneasy about it at first, but she did take comfort in knowing that Dynamis was a good man and an old friend that they could count on, so she eventually relaxed on the subject.  
Eight and Zyro were there, the two of them going down to see who came in every now and then when Madoka, Kite, Ren, and Shinobu were all busy upstairs.  
It was rather impressive to all 6 of them - seeing the acts that each other put on to try and mildly forget that Gingka was currently dying upstairs.  
Zyro often went up to check on him for a few minutes while Shinobu took over his duty of seeing to customers with Eight - the redhead's condition hadn't changed much.

His heartbeats were still 4 seconds apart from each other, his breaths shallow and short-lived which terrified the Fire Blader every time he looked at him.  
His skin looked white, even his hair was very slightly fading in color just like the light in his eyes had, when he had been able to open them - it was a weird way of putting it, but it was almost like losing his pigment.  
As if dying from whatever cause was causing all the natural color of his body to just drain dry.  
The thought was impossible, Zyro knew that blatantly well - then again, he wasn't entirely sure what he should believe anymore, especially after Dynamis's words after he and Maru had left for the Mist Mountain Shrine that morning.  
It just made everything around him feel... Off.

Then again, everything had felt off lately for the past few weeks, ever since Gingka had started acting weird and they hadn't know that he was, in fact, dying.  
The only thing that could currently keep Zyro sane was the task of finding Alcorin, and what Kira had said to him multiple times about keeping them grounded so that they wouldn't be freaking out and unable to handle the situation.  
Why the Bahamoote Blader was even bothering to help was something that Zyro still wondered about, since he didn't even care about Gingka in the slightest, seeing as he was ex-DNA and all.  
But either way, Kira had vaguely given an explanation to why he was even bothering with them the night he had agreed too 'help' - he was 'just returning the favor' as he had said.  
The Fire Blader didn't need to ask him what he meant, for it somehow just a vague link between him and Kira that truly allowed him to understand his means - an eye or an eye, as some people would say.

"Please don't tell me you're _still_ sulking over him.." Came a familiar, and slightly annoyed sounding, voice from the doorway, Zyro immediately turning around in alarm with his blue eyes wide.  
His own blue orbs met with a single golden one, the other covered by an eye patch that Kira had always had for some unknown reason - he could always recognize Kira right away, seeing as how he was the only blader he really knew with multicolored hair.  
"Oh.." The Fire Blader said awkwardly when he saw the other, never hearing the sound of his footsteps and not knowing how long he had been there, "H-hey Kira."  
The multicolor-haired blader simply let out what seemed to a be soft hum, perhaps a subtle way of saying 'hello' back.  
"What are you doing here?" Zyro asked, turning towards the 'friendly rival' that he had.

"Well, I was in the neighborhood, and considering that I still have to uphold in returning that favor for you, I figured I'd come and visit." The Bahamoote blader explained, rolling his wrist off to the side in a fairly feminine way that just somehow seemed to suit him, "But that aside... I _do_ hope you're not going back to sulking pathetically over him.."

"Uh, no.." Zyro replied, averting Kira's one-eyed gaze, "I just.. Have to check on him, since Madoka and the others are gonna be a bit busy..."  
The multicolor-haired blader nodded, his one eye glancing towards the door as if gesturing towards something.  
"Yeah, I saw that when coming up," He said, "Where's that little mechanic girl?"

"Her name is Maru.." Zyro kindly corrected him, which Kira simply nodded too before he continued, "And she went with Dynamis to Africa to try and see if their actually is a way to save Gingka.. Even if it can't pull him out of his coma..."  
Zyro's gaze flickered back towards the comatose redhead, the beat of the heart monitor ringing in both of their ears in a volume that wasn't too loud yet could still dimly be heard from most of the way down the hall.  
"Huh.." The Bahamoote blader said coolly, glancing up towards the ceiling with his one eye and not saying a word after.  
"Well.." Zyro began, trying to break the awkward silence between the two of them, "Since you're here, do you wanna help?"  
Kira's eye immediately looked down to the, staring at him for a moment before placing his hand on his hip, the opposite one jutted out slightly in some sort of position as a soft sigh escaped his purple-coated lips.  
"I guess, if I must..." He said in a bored tone with made a soft smile crawl upon Zyro's lips before leaving the room with the other blader following in his footsteps.

Somehow, neither of them had truly noticed the full cause of discomfort from within the room, despite the fact that Gingka was comatose and dying - yet there was entirely different reason.  
How neither of them had fully come a conclusion that something could've been wrong, Alcorin had no idea - yet he said nothing as he stood there in the shadow of the door they had closed when they left.  
He blended in with the shadows nearly perfectly, a strong benefit on his part as he slowly walked out from where he was standing and made his way briskly over to the end of the redhead's bed, his trench coat flowing along behind him with his movements that were soundless - he could definitely rival a cat if he tried with his silence, yet the slickness of one could possibly have been another story.

"You know, dear Gingka..." He began with a small smile on his face, one that could have been beautiful much previously in life and yet had a deliciously cruel flash to it that could say a lot about him, "Seeing you through a screen is one thing.. But actually paying you a visit..." A soft sigh that as almost a small chuckle escaped his lips, " _That's_ an entirely different story.. Seeing you in person, comatose and dying at the same time!... Oh, that's truly pleasing.."  
A small giggle escaped Alcorin's lips, slowly making his way over to the side of Gingka's bed, carefully moving the chair beside the bed out of the way and gazing down at the comatose redhead that he knew that he himself was responsible for almost killing - more than that, he would be the one responsible for his death.  
Yet even with the child that clung onto him, with the feelings of remorse that that 'other side' of him had had in the past and to this day, he could never even feel the need to care.  
He was incapable of caring what happened to any of them, especially the redhead that he stared down at with golden-brown eyes - yet even so, that pathetic little child kept the smallest bit of humanity inside him, and therefore he only cared about one thing.  
He was only capable of caring for one thing and for one thing alone.

How he cared about 'him' was something that he absolutely hated, how much he cared about getting 'him' back with a sickening lust that was almost impossible to control.  
Alcorin knew he was sick, twisted, disgusting in a way that would make other hate him for more than at least 5 reasons - though he was unable to care about that anymore, having known it as something that was completely normal for him and perhaps for others, the sickening feelings that he had of joy, watching others slowly break apart at his whim.  
It gave him a deliciously malicious pleasure that he was unable to describe, always issuing a sick and twisted joy into him with usually resulted in his so-called 'creepy' giggle that should not be made by a man his age.  
A soft chuckle escaped him with a small smirk across his face, his eyes being gently hued by a crimson red that had once been the original color of his eyes.  
"Its strange that I find you so _cute_.." He said in an almost dreamy way, sitting on the edge of a bed with the lightness of a feather that he knew would never disturb Gingka's endless sleep, "And just so adorable when your bloody, broken, and bruised, and then sent into a coma on top of it all... I _did_ want to make you suffer more, but it being just you started to bore me.."

A soft giggle, that of a child's that had been long lost escaped him as he reached out and gently brushed his lithe fingers across the redhead's pale cheek, a soft shiver running through him at the contact and causing him to gently retract them.  
A soft hum escaped him, as if pondering something for a moment as he looked at the comatose redhead with golden-brown eyes that seemed so similar.  
"Well.." He said in an amused tone, "You're quite peculiar, Gingka Hagane... Or at least, to most people you would, but to me.. Well, could I spend hours looking for the correct words."  
A soft chuckle escaped his lips, simply reaching out and once more placing his hand on Gingka's nearest cheek, ignoring the small shock that went through him as this time he was no longer surprised of it - of course, he had suspected it already in the first place.

Alcorin gently caressed the nearly ice cold skin of the Legendary Blader, watching as his suddenly breathed heavily at the contact as if he could feel his presence and know that there was something he should run from, as if he knew that who was doing this to him was there and he had began to panic.  
Though that was nearly impossible - he was in a coma, and therefore was unresponsive save for the slow and literal crushing of his life in the palm of Alcorin's hand.  
But all the dark bluenette did was give a soft chuckle as he felt the smoothness of skin that he had never truly thought to touch, yet found that he longed to, a flawlessness about it that was just so delicate.  
"I've enjoyed making you suffer enough, little Hagane.." Alcorin said in a soft voice that seemed so unlike him, being one of the only reflections that remained of the pathetic child that could have - at once time - been he himself, "Now... I'll move on to your friends.. I don't even need you to watch with the bonds that you've made with them, because you'll simply _know_."

Alcorin lowered his face closer to the comatose blader's, a small smirk on his face, a deliciously cruel smirk on his face, as he gently felt the skin of Gingka's cheek, enjoying the strange feeling that kept going through him at the contact; the exact same feeling that he had seen Zyro experience just a couple of days ago.  
A feeling that the young blader did not understand, and yet one that he himself understood perfectly.

"If things had just gone the way they were supposed to, this wouldn't have to be so difficult..." Alcorin said with a slightly judging expression, his face still dangerously close to Gingka's own, feeling the redhead's short breaths on his equally as pale skin, "If Ren Kurenai had simply won her battle.. If Kira Hayama had not decided to help out your pathetic little friends.. All of this could've been so much easier... But it wouldn't have been as enjoyable, since I get to cause them even more pain than I had originally planned... So I suppose it has its benefits."  
A soft giggle escaped him as he once more distanced himself from the redhead, his lithe fingers slowly removing themselves and ghosting off of his skin so delicately it didn't seem real.  
Just like how he knew Gingka's touch often had on people.

"You are a strong one, Gingka Hagane.." Alcorin said in almost a sweet tone of voice, "As known by many who come across you.. But tear away the outer layer just a bit, and it'll reveal that soft, weak little boy that only tried to help his friends.."  
The dark bluenette stood up from sitting at the edge of the bed, his movements soft and silent like that of a cat, nearly undetectable and leaving no trace of his existence behind.  
That was the way the world had liked it, and the way that - maybe - things should've been in the first place.  
Or at least, that was what he knew that little child thought as he sat in the corner, being able to do nothing but think to himself as he towered over him, overpowering him in every way while showing no such thing as mercy.  
And the other one, the one that could've been, had been sleeping for a long ( _eternal_ ) time.

"You're time as their hero has come to end Gingka.." He said in a sweet tone as his eyes turned a crimson red, reflecting onto who he truly was and who he had been born as, "And do believe me when I say... That that time is _long_ since overdue."

There were no other words from Alcorin as his eyes returned back to their perfect shade of golden-brown, gathering up a small amount of the power he possessed within the being he was in his heritage, and disappeared from Gingka's room altogether, leaving no trace of his existence or his being there behind.  
He had made perfect timing as well, as the door opened to reveal Zyro checking up on Gingka once more to see whether his condition had changed or not.  
Yet he had been there - they may not have known it, but he had been there just as soon as they had come and left.  
For how long, not even he had truly kept track of as he seemed to admire the way that Gingka silently slept in his eternal sleep, dying off along with who he had been when he had fallen asleep - but yet, there was still the possibility that he could wake up and enjoy a few final moments alive before he passed on along with his existence.

Yet even _if_ that happened, it wouldn't be worth it to them - because somebody else could've ended up being him.. And they would never be able to tell the difference even after he was gone.

 **IT'S ALMOST OVER...**


	22. Chapter 21 - Gone So Soon

Chapter 21 - Gone So Soon

* * *

This time, what woke Madoka up from her nightly slumber was the phone from beside her bed.  
She was actually having a fairly decent dream before a loud noise had rung in her ears and forced her to wake up, gently blinking away the sleep in her eyes and blindly reaching over to pick up the phone.  
She fumbled around for it for a moment she finally managed to lay her hand on it and pick it up, not even bothering to look at the number before she answered as she was too tired to even really gather her thoughts together.

"Hello?..." She asked groggily, reaching up with her free hand and rubbing her eyes.  
"Hi, Chief!" Said a sweet and young voice from the other side of the line, catching Madoka's attention and nearly snapping her fully awake - she knew that there was only one person who ever called her that.

"M-Maru?.." The brunette questioned, slightly surprised that Maru would be phoning this early in the morning, seeing as how it was roughly 7:00.  
However, both Maru and Dynamis had arrived at the African airport no more than about half an hour ago, and considering that it was halfway around the world where they were, the time was either ahead or behind.  
Unfortunately, for both Dynamis and Maru, it was pitch black out considering where they were - however, with it being summer, it wasn't entirely as dark as one would deem from being in the lit up airport.  
"Hey, Chief." Maru greeted again, on one of the many payphones at the airport that people would use to contact friends and loved ones, "Sorry if I woke you up, but you did say to get in contact with you as soon as we got here."

"No, no, no.." Madoka said with a large yawn that escaped her, "D-don't worry about it... I'm just glad to know you guys made it there okay.."

"Yeah, its around midnight here.." Maru explained, glancing over high windows near the rooftop and seeing almost nothing but pitch black darkness, "I slept most of the way here, but overall the flight went pretty good."  
Madoka sighed in relief, sitting up in her bed with her back against her pillow as she spoke to her student.  
"That's good to hear." The brunette said while absently smiling on the opposite side of the phone line from Maru, "Try and let me know if you guys find anything.. Or just call me when you get to the shrine if you can-"

"Chief, I'll be fine." Maru politely interrupted before her teacher would've begun to list off several times of calling her, "I promise."  
A soft sigh was heard on the other side of the line.  
"Well, okay..." Madoka sighed wearily, rubbing one of her eyes again and yawning from her tiredness, "But call me you guys are on you're way back, whenever that is." Although she wasn't able to see it, Madoka could just somehow feel Maru smiling on the other side of the line.  
"Sure thing, Chief!" The pinkette promised, "I'll talk to you later, then."

"Alright." Madoka agreed, "Bye..." Maru had already hung up on the other line, before the brunette ever had a chance to herself.  
With trembling fingers did she reluctantly hang the phone back up and going back to the silence that engulfed not only her room but the entire building.  
It just seemed so quiet without Maru there.  
Madoka had known her for a long time, granted that her student was only 6 years old, but she had come to know the girl as family.  
She had never really thought about how quiet it was without her there, knowing that she was sleeping just down the hall and being reassured that she was safe.  
Madoka knew that it had been at best intentions, but to think that Maru had up taken such a big responsibility and task into her own hands at such a young age was frightening to her - Maru was young, far to young to have something this big and important put onto her shoulders and left to make her crumble away under the weight of it.

The thought was just... Something that Madoka could never even think to imagine.  
If it were up to Madoka, Maru shouldn't have done that, she shouldn't of gone behind her back and up taken such an important task of watching Gingka's condition no matter the cost - Maru, at her age, shouldn't have to go through something like that.  
But then again...  
Maybe it was all for the better.  
If anyone could possibly find an answer to all of this, find a solution for waking Gingka up or maybe even saving his life, it would be them.  
And if not... Then she didn't even know where they would go from there...

* * *

Maru had hung up the phone at the airport as soon as she said goodbye to teacher, feeling a little guilty for not letting her say goodbye in turn but knowing that her and Dynamis had better get going to wherever they were heading - which was likely the Mist Mountain Shrine.  
"How did that go?" Dynamis asked kindly as Maru came back to his side, hanging onto the straps of her backpack.  
"It went good." Maru said, "Its seven in the morning there, I think, so I accidentally woke her up.. But she didn't seem to mind."  
The elder of the two smiled softly, a calm look on features that were as cold as ice, as if carefully carved into a human being itself.  
"Yeah, well the time is bound to be behind or ahead depending on where you are in the world." The Legendary Blader said as they began to head towards the exit of the airport, "I was a bit confused when I arrived in Japan myself, but I've gone through that before back in the Nemesis Crisis, so it wasn't too big of a deal."

Maru smiled and yawned lightly, having slept most of the flight and being abruptly woken up when they were about to land.  
She, unlike Dynamis, was unfamiliar with the change in time when going to a different country, seeing as how she had spent the whole 6-7 years of her life so far in Japan. Dynamis, who had noticed her yawn, looked over at her as they walked towards the exit of the airport.  
"Are you tired?.." He questioned, a solemn look still on his face. "Not really..." Maru said as she secured her backpack, "I slept most of the way here, so I'm rested up a bit.. We did have to get up pretty early to get to the airport, so..."  
The Legendary Blader cracked a small smile, running smoothly along his lips like the soft gleam of light off of ice.  
"Well, that is understandable.." He said kindly, "And also a good thing, since you'll need your strength. We have a lot of work to do, and most of it... Involves hiking through the mountains."  
Maru smiled wearily before simply following Dynamis out of the airport and into the dead of night, noticing how he did not mind that he had to fall back slightly in order for her to keep up.

Well, at least he was kind, even though his stature and his expressions might as well been carved out of ice - Madoka had known him a long time ago, so she knew that she could trust him.  
Even if she didn't fully trust him, she would have come to Africa, near Egypt, either way - mainly because they both knew that they had to do something to try and help Gingka's condition or to even save him.  
And Dynamis saying that there could be something within the Mist Mountain Shrine was as good a place to start as any; either way, Gingka's fate could indeed be in their hands. But even with that thought, Maru knew that, maybe, they weren't allowed to be the judges of that - maybe it was someone else.  
Maybe someone that Gingka had or was good friends with either recently or from back in the days of when he had to save the world a number of occasions while going into his teenage years.  
Maybe it wasn't supposed to be them, maybe...

* * *

For two days or so had Tsubasa, Hikaru, and a few other workers of the WBBA work frequently in attempts to try and find the location of where Alcorin could possibly be - they had for sure narrowed it down to the areas surrounding and within Metal Bey City, so Tsubasa had sent out several people to search many locations and areas within a 3 mile radius of Metal Bey City, and they were still searching the areas and coming up with nothing so far.  
Despite being unsuccessful in finding him so far, they were at least narrowing down the possibilities of where Alcorin could be - even so, they still weren't coming up with anything.  
Since the WBBA controlled a lot of things within Metal Bey City, and they had developed several techniques of scanning over the city and profiling people without gaining too much attention towards them, they had - of course - come up with a way to try and profile most people throughout the city.

One of the several ways they could, was with the blimp that usually wandered over the city on a regular basis, and was also used for special announcements usually involving any tournaments and status within them; from what Tsubasa knew, was that they were able to use that not only for those purposes, but also sending a partial scan through the city and profile as many people as possible from within even the slightest of view.  
However they had managed to come up with that kind of technology, Tsubasa still didn't really have the answer too, but it was as good as anything to at least try and find the guy they were looking for - however and despite the scan actually being fairly quick that Tsubasa had previously thought it would be, they were only able to do so depending on which direction the screens were facing, so even with how quick the scan was the fact the blimp moved quite slowly over the city would mean that it possibly take a number of hours, maybe even a few days to profile most people within Metal Bey City, and even longer to go through all of them.  
What terrified Tsubasa the most out of all things, was the fact that Gingka might not even have a few days; granted that they were looking for Alcorin himself and not entirely focusing on saving him unlike Dynamis and Maru who he had heard had gone back to the Mist Mountain Shrine for possible answers didn't matter - Gingka's lifespan was running short, and growing even shorter by the second with every breath he took and every several-second-apart beat of his slowing heart.  
Needless to say, some of them at the WBBA - mainly Tsubasa and Hikaru - were growing anxious around their work along with knowing what exactly they were doing it for.

Most of the WBBA workers that Tsubasa had preforming these tasks simply knew that it was find someone and that was it - they had no idea why exactly they were doing, or who they were truly doing it for, but they simply complied to the Director's orders without question towards him.  
Hikaru was mainly the one to make sure that nothing leaked out into the public or from other co-workers about what exactly they were doing all of this for, being almost an assistant to Tsubasa as she had been to Ryo Hagane when he had been the Director of the WBBA about 3 or so years ago; her orders might as well have been Tsubasa's, considering how high of a place she was in the WBBA.  
Yet even so, the bluenette herself grew slightly irritated from being on these things 24/7.  
The Director had insisted she go home for awhile, yet she refused as she kept working with Sichiro on the subject.  
"What have you gotten so far?" She questioned as she come up behind the long-haired man, who was sitting at his desk while typing vigorously upon the keyboard.

"We've gotten hold of the blimp's network so far, and we're planning the scan of part of the city for when we can the full system to work." Sichiro explained, glancing back at the bluenette with his dark eyes that matched his hair, "We only tested the system a few years back to assure that it worked, so the programming might be a little rusty, but I don't think its anything we can't get pass."  
Hikaru nodded, placing her laptop gently on the edge of the desk and slightly leaning over Sichiro's shoulder to get a better look at what he was doing exactly.  
"If you don't mind me asking, how many people even know about this system in the blimp?" Hikaru asked, curiously looking over everything one the screen with her bluish-purple eyes.  
"Mainly most people who have been working here longer than others," Sichiro vaguely explained, only to continue, "As far as I know, a lot of people weren't even told that the system was put in. Not even the several pilots of it, I don't think. I don't exactly know when it was put in there, but only a few select people are ever really told."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, slightly interested at the topic of that but decided to leave it for later - they had much bigger problems on their hands right now.  
"Okay..." She said with a soft sigh, picking up her laptop from the edge of the desk and holding it close to her, "Well, I'll come back a bit later to see how everything's going."  
Hikaru told Sichiro, who looked over at her with his dark eyes.  
"I'll call you then." He insisted, "I'm not sure how long it'll take to override the locked programming's though, so you might not hear from for awhile." Hikaru gave the black-haired man a weary smile, before simply nodding and walking off to elsewhere - where, Sichiro didn't know.  
Yet even so, he just presumed that Hikaru was probably going to lounge for awhile, maybe to get some Espresso of which she always overdid it with - considering that one time when she was staying late she had drunk 5-6 cups of it, went on some sort of working spree with surprisingly impressive results, and then just fell stone cold asleep at her desk. Even after the several years that they had known each other - not as long as the Director had, of course - she never ceased to surprise him in some way.

Yet now he was starting to grow concerned for Hikaru, as she was with them one moment and then suddenly gone the next, unable to be found anywhere and then she'd show up again - but Hikaru _did_ have her ways around the WBBA headquarters, quite like the Director did whenever he left his office, so nobody really questioned it.  
All that mattered right now was getting to the bottom of things, which would hopefully be as soon as they manage.  
Even with that thought, Sichiro knew it might not be soon enough...

* * *

The younger bladers had come over nearing around 10:15 in the morning, all also tired and yawning but no less ready to help Madoka with her task of fixing several Beys.  
Luckily, so far there had only been 2 or so kids that came in with the request of fixing their Beys - and of course, they had all been happy to oblige.  
Zyro was still the one that went up to see how Gingka was doing every now and then, which was sometimes replaced by Madoka in some need to just at least see his face again.  
Yet even when she went up there, not much changed. She stood by his bedside, silent and listening to the sound of the heart monitor, counting on her fingers so delicately and as accurately as she could to determine how far apart the beats were.

Almost 5 seconds...

Her breath shuddered as she hadn't realized she had been holding it, her hands brought up around her chest and put together as she uneasily shifted from one foot to the other, knowing that she shouldn't spend too long up there since Zyro and the others did her help in fixing Beys as they didn't know as much as she did.  
However, being up here with Gingka, with the man that she had grown to love, somehow made her feel a bit better - but all of that was quickly erased as she remembered the state he was in: Comatose, and dying slowly upon all of it.  
When Madoka looked at his face, she would no longer see those bright eyes and dorky smile that she had always loved throughout the years, but a blank face with the color absolutely drained from it, his skin almost as white as snow and breathing softly through his mouth with a soft wheeze.

It seemed like even his hair was beginning to drain of color, not seemingly like the vibrant and fiery red it was anymore.  
It seemed like it had paled, just like his skin, which she knew without having to touch it was nearly as cold as ice itself, as if his blood had frozen underneath his flesh and left him to die inside a stone cold shell.  
Madoka shivered at the thought, unable to stand the thought of Gingka never waking up from what was likely an endless sleep; as much as she hated the thought of him dying, she hated the thought of him being in a coma even more.  
Even if he _did_ live (which was not a high possibility) she knew that people who went into comas usually didn't wake up - they could last for weeks, months, and especially years to the point where there would be absolutely no hope of them waking up at all and they would be taken off life support, suggesting they were on that.  
Even those who did wake up were sometimes rendered brain dead, amnesiac, or other things that made going into a coma a living hell just thinking about it.

Even with those who did remember everything and didn't have any problems afterwards, their lives had probably passed by already and they may have nothing left - loved ones could die, all could lose hope, and rarely even know that you were awake maybe days after it happened.  
Madoka had heard of children going into comas as young as the ages of 6-7, and literally spending their entire lives in their eternal sleep before they died.  
It was a frightening thought as her turquoise eyes once more made their way to her comatose friend, breathing lightly and knowing that at any moment he could start hyperventilating once more.  
It honestly concerned her that she hadn't had to call the hospital since they had been there to examine Gingka's condition and determine that if they were able to do anything or not, since they had said that they wouldn't put him on life support as there was no apparent cause of what was killing him, so being in a coma didn't really matter - everything had just seemed far too calm, despite the moments where he freaked out and started hyperventilating again, though those 'episodes' normally did not last for long.

She was relieved that nothing too serious with his condition so far had occurred and would end in her having to call the hospital for urgent help, but at the same time it worried her, as if his little 'episodes' likely caused by the condition of his breathing and such were just building up to something, like it wanted to make them panic and then just let them relax in knowing that it was nothing serious only to catch them off guard.  
It didn't seem normal; none of this did. The way that Gingka's 'condition' had supposedly started seemed reasonable, but... How it had all happened in the first place was what confused her the most, as well as Zyro and the others of which she knew were also suffering mentally from it.  
The most that they truly knew was that Alcorin was the one who was doing all of this, and however he was controlling Gingka's fate to his will was something that just didn't make sense.  
Madoka let out another shaky breath, shaking her head a as a silent tear ran down her cheek from her turquoise eyes.  
Carefully did she bring a hand up and wipe it away, looking down at the Fire Blader with tears lining her eyelashes so delicately that it seemed like the touch of a finger would cause her to break - of course, that seemed more so for both Zyro and Gingka himself.

Silently did she lean down, letting another tear fall from her eyes as she gently placed her lips against Gingka's clothed forehead in a soft kiss.  
It was something tender, like a mother kissing her child's forehead before they went to sleep, as if placing some sort of charm on them which was all that kept them safe from bad dreams at night.  
As far as they were all concerned, Gingka would be fine... Save for the fact that he was dying, but on that road he should be fine - though maybe saying that was speaking too soon...

* * *

This time, Kira had sternly ordered his teammates to leave him alone while he tried to get some sleep, seeing as how things had gone the last time he had taken a small nap with any of them around.  
He would never admit that he had been embarrassed, his pride stood firmly against admitting such a thing as personal as it was towards anyone, even his teammates. But they - as always - had complied to Kira's wishes, and left him alone while he lay on his bed on his side, facing the wall which always usually gave him comfort as a kid. Of course, those times were long gone and in his past that he left behind.  
Yet somehow, it always managed to come back and haunt him.  
There wasn't really much that he even remembered about his past, as he had buried most of it like they had supposedly buried his mother...  
He still remembered that regardless of his age back that, having been 4 while usually you had to be 5 years old to even properly have a stable memory, but... That was the one thing that he really remembered clearly, and yet tried so hard to repress that it sometimes even gave him a headache thinking about it.

Even as he sat there it sought to invade his mind once more as he fell asleep, always coming back to him after so long of forgetting it only to remember once more.  
Yet even so, it didn't bother him as much as it once had - he had almost grown used to the forgotten and buried memories that blankly resurfaced in his sleep, making him shed the invisible tears that he had never felt run down his cheeks in a long time.  
Almost, anyway. Kira never even really remembered his dreams either way, so its not like it would matter or mean anything to him when he woke up.  
All he never did was simply close his one eye, since his other one had that eye-patch over it, fall asleep and dream the blankness of his past that had meant nothing to him back then, wake up and then just carry on like nothing ever happened - its not like anything did really matter afterwards, considering all he had ever remembered seeing when he woke up was complete and utter darkness, and Kira preferred it that way.  
Yet as he closed his one eye, not truly feeling too tired yet wishing to rest a bit all the same, images appeared before his one eye, and yet out of the other since he was virtually capable of doing so with the wiring in it.

Yet... What was he seeing?

As Kira closed his eyes, it seemed to almost take him into the dream world right from there, and yet he could still consciously know that he wasn't asleep. Everything he saw before his eyes was something that he didn't remember, didn't know of, failed to recognize as he saw it clearly before him and yet so blurred up.  
Everything he was seeing.. May have been a reality in itself...

* * *

 _White walls.._

 _White floor.._

 _White ceiling.._

 _Yet all mixed in with the dimmest of colors that made it seem so bland, as if stained overtime..._  
 _But almost everything he saw with his young gold eyes was white.. Just pure and utter white as he held his mommy's hand, his small fingers wrapping around 2 or 3 of her much bigger ones.._

 _"Mommy... Why we here?.." He asked, his speech a little loose considering his young age.. He didn't know if she answered..._

 _People.._

 _Dressed in white, talking..._

 _Trying to focus on their words, yet unable to understand or catch any of them... They were still in the hallway, his mommy talking to people..._  
 _His young eyes wandering around only to see nothing that was too interesting, looking one way down the hall and then the next..._  
 _Only at the side where he could see the wall at the end of the white hallway, did he finally notice something.._

 _A child, perhaps..._

 _Maybe the same age as him.. A child that he had almost been unable to notice, looking down the hallway towards him in his mother perhaps out of curiosity..._

 _They had almost entirely blended in with the white surroundings.._

 _Pale skin.._

 _White clothes.._

 _Perhaps white hair of which seemed entirely unusual save for his own grey-colored locks of which stood on his head like a crown.._

 _And.. Red eyes?.._

 _He blinked, his vision unclear as he didn't wish to focus on anything.. Yet the other child seemed entirely aware he was looking at him, seemingly not caring as if they had no will too, as if they weren't even alive..._

 _Yet he, at his young age, was not the judge of that.. He saw someone else, an adult come along.._  
 _Placing their hand on the child's shoulder as if beckoning them along, and they complied.._  
 _He watched as the child turned away, barely being able to see any of their features or entirely what they looked like.._

 _Yet, as he watched them slowly turn away, like their will was in someone else's hands, he saw something dragging behind him at least a foot or so.._

 _Something smooth, that seemed to be attached to somewhere on his body.._

 _It looked like... Hair?..._

* * *

Kira's eyes snapped open, his entire body tense and his one eye staring at the wall in front of him as he still lay in the same position on his side in his bed.  
The sound of his own heart beating was all that filled his ears, his breathing seeming to stop abruptly and threaten to choke him.  
Yet those were the things that he did not focus on in that moment, feeling the sweat roll down one side of his face as he was only slightly able to recall what he had seen before his eyes...  
The one dream that he remembered, the one flashback that was able to recall from within his sleep and when he awoken, eternally tormenting him on the life he had lived before he had ever joined the DNA.

With an irritated sigh, Kira sat upright, listening to the silence around him that he honestly didn't mind that much - he always did get tired of his teammates' bickering.  
But this dream - this flashback - was something that he now faintly remembered from his toddler years..  
Back when he was too young to truly know right from wrong, when... When he had still had his mother.  
Before she had left him, selfishly taking her own life and leaving him alone to lead the life that he had so far. Yet even with the calm rage that filled his tainted heart, he couldn't bring himself to be angry - that was the one thing that wasn't on his mind.

He remembered that one time. He couldn't remember where they were going, the words that had been spoken or even half of the people he had seen... But he remembered 'them'.

It was dim and blurred, unable to be clear no matter how hard he tried, but he remembered that child..  
The one that had nearly blended in entirely with the white walls, roof, and floor, entirely clothed in white with the palest of skin tones, perhaps white hair, and...

Eyes, that stood out among everything else on their body, seeming like the only color that truly existed in their appearance..  
And the way they had lifelessly stared, meeting his eyes and saying nothing yet so much at the same time, things Kira had been unable to understand for his entire life.. The way they had just left, willingly, lifelessly, as if there was no other purpose for them in the world other to be under someone else's control...  
Then again, it seemed like they were all under someone else's control - Alcorin's control.  
The one who seemed to act like they were nothing but pieces on a chess board, able to move around to his will and make everything go as planned, all just being used as puppets while himself being the one who decided everything.

"Dammit..." Kira swore under his breath, clenching the fingers of one hand in the sheets of his bed before letting them loose again.  
He was _not_ going to be used a puppet ever again.

Never. Again.

Maybe that was why he had decided to help Zyro and his little friends.  
Because he knew that - maybe - they couldn't stand the thought of being used just as much as he did.

No.

They couldn't understand him; no one had ever understood him, and yet... He had decided to help them.  
To return the favor to Zyro for saving his life when he very well could've just let him die because of everything he and the other ex-DNA bladers had done to them..  
Maybe that was why. And after getting himself involved in the whole thing to at least try and save Gingka Hagane, which he still could care less about, he had begun to have his own thoughts about why, and how, this had happened in the first place - if it had happened at the DNA, the Garcias would've seen it...  
They monitored that room with Gingka second after second, assuring no one went in or out unless it was confirmed by that bastard Doji that it was okay.. And Kira - as much as he kept to himself - only had one theory.  
One theory was entirely impossible, and yet when thinking about how Alcorin was from what he had heard from Zyro and his friends, it didn't seem entirely impossible.

Just maybe... Kira let his thoughts wander off, nearly fading into a mist that clouded the back of his mind for many years; a fog that had hidden his past memories from himself for a long time, and yet always managed to break through and remind him of who he once was until he foolishly accepted it.

But all that he ever gave his dreams - his memories - was silence.

Silence that could've been deafening if it was truly a noise level at all - a silence that allowed him to hear the faint sound of sirens off in the distance.


	23. Chapter 22 - Death Bed

Chapter 22 - Death Bed

* * *

The hospital had been called urgently that day, the receptionist answering the phone in a usual calm manner as to never give off the wrong tone to anyone who called whether in tears, in happiness, or in panic - it wasn't the first time she had been met with a voice filled with urgency, their panic bleeding through the phone line and almost into herself at the sound of true fear within someone's voice.  
It was a fear that she had heard many times, a pained or panicked cry within their voice, a strangled sob that escaped them as they desperately tried to say something; but everyone knew that they only directly called the hospital when there was already a patient there, or a patient of theirs that they had left elsewhere in case of the consequences that could follow with moving them, though that scenario didn't happen often.

However, this call just happened to be one of those rare scenarios where the patient was left elsewhere, supposedly in safer hands, yet it also usually meant that there was nothing they could really do for the patient, so they would come, do their job with whatever they had to 'clean up', and leave.  
Though no matter how many of those calls there were, no receptionist - no matter how many years they had been there, sitting behind the desk and filing the papers, taking calls, and organizing registrations - ever got used to do, as if some beneficial curse had been placed on them the moment they took the job.  
Even so, they always managed to remain as cool and collected as possible, to not put any further stress on the caller than they already were in, to calm them as well and seep that feeling through to them.  
Thankfully, it usually worked, and she was able to get a decently clear explanation as to what was happening and why they may or may not their help - and it was usually always a good one.  
The receptionist did get a lot of surprising calls at times, so much so that she was even able to get used to after awhile; yet as always, there would just be that one call that would surprise her all over again no matter how many she got.

Especially when it had to do with _the_ Gingka Hagane himself.

He had been admitted about a week ago, yet he had been left at a different location for fear of the consequences that it could have on his heart - not many of them really knew that Gingka Hagane was in a coma, as it was ordered to keep as secret as possible by not only the owner of the Beyblade Shop of where he was currently being kept, but also by the Director of the WBBA.  
Of course, it had been said that the Director and the legend himself had been good friends, but during the Nemesis Crisis 7 years ago where they all dreadfully thought their end would be.

It was strange... Gingka had been admitted about a month ago as well, and she had heard that they found numerous burn marks on his body and several other injuries, but he had been released in a few days.  
This situation with him was much different; not only was he in a coma, but he may have very well been dying upon all of that - the call she had gotten was one of his supposed friends, the owner of the Beyblade Shop, Madoka Amano, saying that Gingka had started hyperventilating again.  
Only this time, it had gone on for longer than it usually did, as she had explained until the point where his breathing sounded ragged and clogged and blood started to ooze out of his mouth - the hospital, of course, complied to her call and they were sent over as soon as possible with the sirens wailing.

By the time they had gotten there, Gingka had stopped breathing all together and they had placed a towel under his head for the blood to soak into - even with his breathing either blocked by blood or just halted, his heart was still somehow beating even if at the slowest that they had probably ever seen one beat.  
When the paramedics had rushed in they had witnessed Madoka on the couch with her head in her hands, her sobs and screams of anguish just enough for them all to bare as the younger bladers desperately tried to calm her down while evidently being afraid of the situation themselves.  
They hadn't had time to speak with the shop owner as they hurried upstairs, racing to the room that they knew the comatose redhead resided in and burst through the door as they rushed to assist the already dying blader.  
His head was on its side, supposedly placed that way by the owner of the B-Pit or one of the others so that the blood was able to pour out of his mouth onto a towel that had been placed there instead of having him choke on it - that was a sign that could allow them to get his breathing going again.

It felt like hours as they all stood downstairs in wait, Madoka's hoarse sobs being the only real thing that broke the dreaded silence while the rest of them desperately tried to look for something that would occupy them for the time being as they tried to ignore the fact that Gingka could very well be living his final moments upstairs as his death inevitably peeked ever closer.  
Ren rubbed and scratched at her cheek every now and then, turning the soft skin slightly warm and a light red color from the irritated area - Zyro bit the skin around his nails and sometimes even bits and pieces off his actual nails, though he had other things on his mind that didn't allow him to care at all.  
No words were exchanged between any of them, only silent gestures and looks being the only sense of communication that flowed through the air in the room as they dimly heard noises from upstairs that they couldn't specifically identify.  
Kite had gone upstairs to keep watch just in case, seeming to be the most stable out of them all at the moment and would supposedly be the one that would be able to hold their wit together upstairs.

Nobody bothered to look at the time as they all stood in silence, unable to hear anything other than the sounds of their own heart beats like they had heard Gingka's earlier that day - the fact that all they could dimly hear from upstairs was countless thuds and meaningless words was not a comforting thing.  
It was only after what seemed like an eternity that they heard slightly lighter footsteps come from up above before coming down the stairs; all eyes eerily turned in unison to the sound of shoes on the stairs before they saw that Kite was standing there, halfway down with his hand on the railing.

"Madoka.." He said quietly, the sound of his voice almost hurting their ears from the silence that they had resided in for so long, "They want to talk to you."  
Silence took over the room once more, all eyes going to the brunette who wiped at her tear-stained face before shakily getting up off the couch and making her way towards the stairs.  
Kite hurried up them to allow the brunette access to go upstairs, and she did so without a word to anyone.  
She couldn't cry, she had promised herself that she wouldn't cry until they possibly found Alcorin, promised that she wouldn't cry in front of anyone and show her weakness again and again at this subject, but...  
This time something just forced the tears out of her, forcing her to break the promise that she had made to Gingka - had made to herself - about crying during this situation. She had been before, so it didn't even really matter anymore whether she made that promise or not.  
Even so, Madoka did her best to wipe away the tears that hung from her eyelashes and ignored the tear tracks that had stained her soft skin as she made her way to where one of the paramedics wanted to talk to her, which was - thankfully - just outside of Gingka's room considering that they were still working in there.

She recognized him... It was the paramedic from before, the one who had told her that Gingka was in a coma and had stabilized him enough to get him to stop hyperventilating the first time - Seth, was his name?  
Yes, as his name tag confirmed.

"Hello again, Ms. Amano." Seth greeted solemnly, not putting on a smiling face as he did with some people as to give them false hope.  
"H-hello.." Madoka replied back weakly as she brought her hands down from her face and placed them together in front of her, "H-how is he?"

Seth evidently swallowed as he quickly gathered his words to speak to her in a calm manner and assure her of the situation.  
"We've been able to clear his airway well enough." He said, "We're still working with him, but we have gotten him breathing again.. We're checking his vitals right now, and... There doesn't really seem to be an answer to what caused him to start vomiting up blood.."  
Madoka's breath shook as he spoke to her, gathering every bit of willpower that she had left and using it in order to stay calm and collected as he spoke to her.  
Seth saw this in her and licked his lips for a moment, before continuing on with his explanation on Gingka's condition so far.  
"Is heart has slowed down significantly in a short amount of time.." He explained solemnly, "It may have had something to do with the blood that clogged his airway, but we're not sure... We're still looking, but as far as we've gotten his heart slowing down is rendered a mystery."  
Madoka brought her fingertips up to her lips for a moment before wrapping her arms around herself in a type of self-hug.  
"B-but that doesn't just _happen_..." She said, her turquoise glancing down and then looking up at the black-haired paramedic again, "Does it?.."

"No." Seth said bluntly, shaking his head slightly and running a hand through his hair, "At least, not that we've ever know.. But this... This entirely turns around everything we thought that we knew from our medical books.. Whatever is currently killing Gingka right now is something that is beyond our power to identify and or stop, and all we know is that it has something to do with his heart.. So is their something that you're not telling me?"  
Seth's question caught the brunette off guard.  
Something she wasn't telling him... No, she was telling him everything that she knew. Well, maybe not everything, considering the fact that they had to keep the fact that Gingka was somehow dying because of whatever Alcorin had done was doing to him a secret, but... That was entirely out of the question.  
Madoka shook her said silently, vigorously wiping the tears from her eyes that had become rather swollen from crying downstairs for so long.  
Seth simply sighed, looking away at the wall for a moment before simply nodding.

"Okay..." He said with a small sigh, "We'll be here for awhile yet, but everything should be fine.. Okay?"  
Madoka shakily nodded, swallowing down nothing but air and bile that had come in into her throat from the uncomfortableness she felt from the conversation. With a small nod as well, Seth turned and placed his hand on the door, ready to head back inside - and just as Madoka was about to turn away as well, Seth spoke once more that almost made Madoka's heart stop completely in place.  
"His heart his beating once every 6-7 seconds." Seth said suddenly, his hand still on the door but still not going inside yet, "That's way longer than even we've ever seen.."

Madoka didn't turn to look at him again, the tears once more coming up and flooding into her eyes, hanging from the edges of her eyelashes as they threatened to fall down and stain her soft cheeks even more.  
This was not comforting, not at all...  
Then again, it wasn't really a paramedic's place to comfort people when they felt absolutely no such thing as the same feelings that the other was experiencing - they could never fully understand, even with saying how much that they did and they knew how hard it was for them... What a joke.

"You need to know that.. He might not live too much longer..." Seth said, his eyes boring into the back of her head, "Despite what we're already doing, there's no point in us trying to save his life... He was on his death bed the moment he supposedly fell into his coma, even if we get his heart beating again and get him breathing again none of it will matter... I hope you're all ready to accept that reality.."  
A silent sob escaped Madoka's lips as she heard Seth head back into Gingka's room and partially close the door behind him, the sound of the heart monitor that reflected Gingka's slowing heart all that she was able to hear as she stood there for an uncertain amount of time.  
With a small tear running down her face, Madoka walked away from the door that was to Gingka's room, passing the stairs and choosing not to go down them as she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her cellphone, going a little ways further down a hall as she dialed a number into it and leaned against the wall with one arm hugging herself as she brought it up to her ear and listened as it rang, waiting for only one person to pick up.  
Only after several moments of ringing and desperately hoping for him to pick up did she finally hear someone picking up a phone on the other line. "Hello?" Asked a familiar voice that Madoka knew all to well.

"H-hey Tsubasa.." She greeted, bringing her other hand up to her eye and gently wiping away the tears that had gathered in them.  
"Oh, Madoka." Tsubasa responded, sounding a bit surprised as he hadn't suspected her to call, "How are you?"

"I-I'm fine.." Madoka said out of pure instinct, that being the only reply that she ever really gave when someone asked her that question.  
"Really?" Tsubasa asked on the other end, "You don't sound like yourself.." Madoka swallowed and then let out a small breath, glancing up towards the ceiling with her turquoise eyes before answering.  
"Uh, yeah.." She said, "I-it's not about me.. It's about Gingka..." Tsubasa went silent for a moment, and at the WBBA he sat there for a moment as if entirely frozen solid by her words, calculating if he heard her right until he answered.  
"What about him?" Tsubasa asked, his tone going serious and worried, "What happened?"

Tears inevitably came to Madoka's eyes once more as she thought of what to say, barely able to handle explaining all of it to even one of her closest friends and... Her stomach hurt from crying, that dull ache in her throat as she felt a sob coming up and wanting to be ripped from her throat - which she definitely knew would be the end of one of Tsubasa's ears.  
"Blood started to pool in his mouth and he stopped breathing..." Madoka said quickly, trying desperately for her voice not to break over the phone, "I called the hospital, and... They managed to get him breathing again and they said he should be okay.."  
Tsubasa nodded, being able to hear the sobs that so desperately wanted to escape her, yet knowing that she was using sheer willpower to keep it all down as she tried to talk to him.  
"Okay, that's good.." He said in a soothing tone, trying to calm her down a bit so that she didn't break down crying.  
"Tsubasa.." Madoka said with a frighteningly calm voice, as if something overcame her and forced her to stay calm as she said his name and said her next words, "I think he's dying faster than we thought.."  
Tsubasa's eyes widened and his breath hitched at her words, unsure of what to say as he processed these words quickly and silently within his mind, as if they were a completely alien thing to him that he didn't understand - of course, this entire situation seemed like something that had just crash landed into earth, to all of them and not allowing them to fully see clearly through it for long; though, he supposed that was what Kira was trying to help them with.

"What do you mean?" He asked, leaning forward on his desk a bit as he listened to his long-time friend.  
he was able to hear Madoka trying not to cry on the other end of the phone, though not able to see it as she brought a hand up to her mouth to prevent any pathetic whimpers from escaping her.  
"His heart's beating even slower!.." She forced out, feeling the tears coming to her eyes and desperately trying not to let them fall over the phone, "They said he could die any day now, and I'm not ready to handle that!..."  
The dam broke as tears flowed down Madoka's cheeks, staining the soft skin evermore as she stood there and placed a hand over her mouth to prevent the loud sobs of pain and anguish to escape her.  
Tsubasa's heart almost completely broke as he heard the state that she was in, hearing the pain in her voice of being unable to handle the harsh reality that stood in front of her, unsure of what he should say to calm her down and just saying the first words that really came to mind.  
"Don't worry, Madoka.." He said softly, knowing that she was still listening despite the tears that were falling from her eyes - something that he had learned from years of knowing her, "It'll be fine.. I promise you... Do you want me to come over there?"

"No.." Madoka vigorously shook her head, breathing in as she looked up to the ceiling with her tear-filled turquoise eyes that had shed so many tears that she found it unbelievable that she was still shedding more, her head aching especially around her eyes and temples from the pressure that had been put on them, "No, I'll be fine... You have things to do..."

"I know I do, Madoka.." The silverette said in a soothing tone, trying to calm down the woman that he had known for so long, "But my friends have always come before my job.." Madoka was touched by those words, truly and thoroughly, another salty tear falling from the corner of her eyes.  
Tsubasa had always been a man of good will, just like Gingka always had been - sure, he had been working with the Dark Nebula for awhile but that was simply because he was undercover for the WBBA, but that was a long time ago.  
Everything that they had built up until this very moment might not matter anymore as the very legend who created it all lay on his death bed and simply awaited his inevitable fat that was to come.  
"I'll be fine.." Madoka insisted, holding in a sob that threatened to escape her as she leaned against the wall and felt her knees about to knock together.  
"Okay..." Tsubasa said with a soft sigh, "Just... Call if you need me, okay?"

Madoka could only utter a 'mm-hm' before she heard Tsubasa's farewell and hung up the phone, finally letting a sob escaped her and let herself slide down the wall and onto the floor.  
Her throat hurt from the sobs that wanted to be let out, the screams of sorrow and grief that desperately wanted to be ripped from her throat that she refused anything too.  
Seth had told her that Gingka could very well die any day, she knew that all too well - they all did, and they struggled with that yet vowed to be strong and push through.  
But now that they were here, at this point where everything was on the line... Maybe they had all realized that they weren't ready to face the harsh reality that was life itself - but Gingka, he likely wouldn't live to see the future that they could all have in front of them, dying in a way that nobody deserved.  
Madoka let out another choked sob at the thought, unable to fully contain it as everything built up and just came tumbling down all over again; but it was then that she felt a hand on her shoulder, a gloved one that almost made her hopeful.

Her turquoise eyes looked over as her whole body tensed, looking into the face of Zyro - the only one who ever really and truly understood as they did - as he came and sat down beside her, with Ren and Shinobu following and sitting on either side.  
No words were spoken between any of them, a silence remaining as they all comforted Madoka in a time of need for comfort, listening to her sobs while being able to do nothing but at least try and sympathize with the feelings that she had.  
The only one of them that could truly understand was Zyro, though he said not a word as he stared blankly ahead towards the wall opposite that they all leaned against, his once innocent blue eyes not plagued with darkness that slowly corrupted his soul, just like 'he' wanted.  
There was still that light, warding off the darkness as it huddled into a corner and made a protective barrier around itself to remain there in Zyro's soul, reminding him that there may still be hope.  
The only other thing that gave him reassurance, was the small voice that spoke in the back of his head, a voice that he had heard several times and yet, almost failed to recognize.. A soft and broken voice that he had heard before, weakened down to being nothing more than that of a small squeak of a mouse and yet with the most heavenly and innocent of voices that tried oh so desperately to reach out to him.

 _"... Please... Don't abandon him... Don't abandon..."_

But the next 2 words were never able to reach the inner depths of his heart...

* * *

Tsubasa was the one who had sat there, listening in helpless silence as he heard Madoka hang up the phone as she as he had said goodbye - he wouldn't blame her, he had the inability to as he knew every last feeling that was experience, being able to just sense her crying her out wherever she was and weeping herself to sleep.  
With shaking hands did he hang the phone as well, the silence of his office hanging around him and mocking him as he sat there, entirely incapable of doing anything to comfort Madoka as long as he remained there and she refused his compassion.  
It was the worst feeling... Knowing that something was going on, what was likely to happen and that you were entirely powerless to stop it no matter how much you tried or what you did.  
That applied to all of them... As if they were just puppets in a play there someone else moved them around to their will and made them do whatever they wanted, to be entirely incapable of doing anything but allow fate to push you forcefully down the path that you didn't want to walk.

He had believed that they would have awhile, since he had been told that Gingka's heartbeat had been beating at one beat every 4 seconds, which was a scary thought to think about but nothing that their wills couldn't overcome.  
But the knowledge that Gingka's heart had now slowed an alarming pace was something that almost made him panic, more desperate for them to finally find Alcorin before the psychopath got his way - it definitely wasn't something that he was going just let happen.  
They had built up too much hope, too many bonds for this to happen, and either way... If Gingka Hagane died, Alcorin would be hearing it from the world. Tsubasa, with a small sigh as he got his bearings together, stood up from his desk and left his office through the automatic sliding doors and practically storming down the hallway.

Gingka's life wasn't just going to end this way, and he'd be damned if he let it - if anything, Gingka would want them to stand up to that giggling freak that had caused all of this, not weep in the corner and just let him take control and treat them all as puppets.  
Sure, he understood where Madoka was right now, and likely the other younger bladers as well, but even so, they couldn't stay like that.  
Maybe this is exactly where Kira was coming from the entire time, getting them up on their feet and telling them to focus and not cry like little newborn babies that had yet to be tainted by the world.  
That would not happen to them, not while he had anything to say about it.  
Just as he rounded the corner, he bumped into the exact person that he wanted to see, which just happened to be Hikaru, recoiling back a bit from the surprise of suddenly bumping into her old friend of who she may have been looking for as well.

"Oh, Director.." The bluenette said in surprise, standing upright while in his presence, "I was just heading to your office."

"Well, I was looking for you too, Hikaru." Tsubasa said as he headed on, beckoning the bluenette along of who hurried to catch up before comingb up by his side.  
"How's it going with that scan?" The silverette asked, being sure to watch where he was going while still talking to former Aquario Blader.  
"Oh, its coming along pretty good," Hikaru said, slightly concerned from seeing Tsubasa's attitude, "We should have the scan running in a few hours or so while we clear up the programming."

"Well, you're going to need to make it a bit sooner." The Director said as he came to a halt, the action followed by Hikaru as he leaned in close so that the word he spoke were for only him and her to hear, "Gingka might be dying faster than we thought.. We don't have time for a few hours.."  
Hikaru's eyes widened as a silent gasp escaped her, looking like finding this new knowledge hard to believe for her ears.  
Tsubasa looked intently at her with his golden-brown eyes, studying her face and her actions to see if she understood this situation.  
All Hikaru could really do was nod in confirmation that she understood.

"Okay.." She said quietly, earning a nod from Tsubasa in turn before he watched as she turned and left to go aid or tell Sichiro that they may not have as much time as they previously believed.  
Tsubasa had suspected there to be enough time for them to try and find Alcorin, hopefully track him down and bring him to justice just like he deserved, only he had been wrong on all accounts when the situation had worsened - time was the one thing they didn't have, and time definitely was not on their side...

* * *

She had never really heard him giggle as hysterically as he was now, watching him brought a hand up to his mouth slightly and was barely able to contain the sickening joy that spread throughout his veins, his golden-brown eyes twitching slightly with that insane look that just made him the sociopath that he was as he glanced from screen to screen - of course, he eventually just stopped doing that and giggled madly with what he had done, evidently unashamed at the damage he had done to not just Gingka, but the rest of them as well.  
Alcorin - presumably - should've terrified her, should've made fear sink into the depths of her core and break her apart as she quivered in the corner pathetically just like the rest of them were beginning too, but... The lack of emotion that she felt made that entirely impossible, unable to feel any such thing as emotions let alone for one, and even when she supposedly did she knew that they were nothing but artificial ones that he made up for her as some sort of plaything.  
And it didn't bother her one bit.  
Yet even so, she still questioned his actions at times, almost finding concern for him even though she knew that there was nothing to be concerned about with him.

This is the way he was, the way he had turned out to be perhaps from the childhood that he had lived at some point, despite that never truly being _him_ in a sense; he was just simply the result of it, or what came first before that life in a life that he could've lived and didn't have to be ashamed of.  
Maybe he was just the thing that came before, and turned out to be the result of a life one had no control over.  
"You do not think that was overdoing it a little?" She questioned in monotone, her voice calm and uncaring despite her question.  
She suspected that he might not have heard her, from his hysteric giggling that sounded like that of a small child's and - at one time - might've been the sweetest thing one could ever hear, but even over the sound that echoed off the metal walls, it died down as he turned back to look at her with that calm expression of his that was frighteningly casual considering what he was doing.

"Well, he's still alive, isn't he?" Alcorin questioned playfully, though it wasn't truly a question - just a playful statement, "Sure, I stopped his breathing and maybe ruptured a few things, but you heard the man!... He'll be _fine_.."  
He put emphasis on the last word, a small smirk on his pale face that could've been mistaken for white.  
It was a term that he had seemingly proved to not like, the subject of Gingka being absolutely fine - yet it was a thing that he now played around with, knowing full well what it was he would accomplish, a task that could've been completed way sooner if not for the faults in the plan that Zyro and his friends had created.

"Besides..." He said in a soft and carefree tone, "It's not like it'll matter afterwards.. But it's always good to inflict a little pain on little Gingka..."  
With a small chuckle did he lift his left hand to look at the dim blood red sphere in his hand, pulsating from its core like the beat of a heart while a small crack lined the surface of it.  
"Maybe I did go a bit far with it.. Taking my anger and irritation out on dear Hagane..." Alcorin said with a tone that showed that he was not sorry in the slightest bit as he gazed at the sphere in his hand with golden-brown eyes that had existed just as long as that of someone else, "But lets look on the bright side of this, shall we? At least it wasn't in my right hand.. He's lucky I'm left handed just for that reason."

"Indeed..." She said solemnly, knowing entirely what he meant as he had explained this to her, more or less, "Even so... It appears you have made them even more anxious than they previously were about his condition."  
A small giggle escaped Alcorin's lips, playing around gently with the small orb in his hands of which was anything but a toy.

"Exactly..." He said, "That's how I _want_ them to be... As much as I do want them to find me, I figured I might as well have a little fun with them, if anything. Their pained and sorrowful expressions always make me feel... Well, I'm never really one for words but... Joyous, to say the least. So why not have a little fun with them in the meantime?.."  
A small chuckle escaped his lips as he held the blood red sphere in his left hand, gently caressing the crack that had been created on it with the tips of his fingers on his right hand while a calm smirk made its way to his lips.  
She only hummed softly in reply, watching him as he held the one thing in his hand that he could crush at any moment, hold tightly in either hand and destroy completely and ending the supposed goal that _they_ suspected of him.  
But she knew that he would wait... For not everything was quite in place yet. And she had a certain mission to fulfill in the end herself...

* * *

The 'hike' that Dynamis had mentioned to Maru was definitely as long as she had expected it to be, going on for hours and only stopping for short breaks every now and then before continuing on; Dynamis had said that Maru could rest for longer if she needed, but she continuously said that they had a specific mission to fulfill before anybody could truly do any resting.  
They hiked on through into noon, the girl following the purple-greynette in his footsteps as they hiked through the woods and eventually the mountains when the sun was rising at approximately 5-6 am.  
However long they went on for was unknown, yet both of them knew that they couldn't afford to just stop and slow down - and to so someone's life was at stake because of it was no laughing matter.  
And maybe that was entirely what really kept her going throughout the entire journey since the airport.

Maru breathed out softly, ignoring the slightly burning sensation in her lungs from long hikes that day, barely able to even feel her legs anymore as they just automatically carried her along the path that her and Dynamis walked.  
"Are you tired, Maru?" Dynamis asked, peeking over his shoulder and down at the pink-haired girl that followed him.  
"A bit..." She said tiredly, her breathing raspy and heavy from walking for hours on end with little rest.  
"Do you want to rest for a bit?" He asked, his tone softer than his face appeared to be, the sun almost reflecting off of it like pure ice that had been beautifully carved into everything he was.  
"No..." She said breathlessly, following him along and not even truly paying attention to where they were anymore, simply following his shadow as they went along on what was seemingly an endless walk.

"Well.." Dynamis began as he looked forward, slowing down as they walked of which was mimicked by Maru - as if she was his shadow that had learned to do everything he did, "You'll be able to deny it all you want, but you can rest for as long as you like.."

Maru's lavender eyes looked up in confusion towards him, watching as a small and graceful smile made its way across his lips as his head gestured in a direction of which her eyes followed.  
The lavender orbs did just that, and widened in near shock as she saw what stood before them both in all its glory; Dynamis could only smile at her reaction, and speak in a voice that seemed to echo through the mountains like that of a god.

"Welcome to the Mist Mountain Shrine, Maru."


	24. Chapter 23 - (False) Hope

Chapter 23 - (False) Hope

* * *

"This... Is the Mist Mountain Shrine?" Maru asked, her eyes wandering up and down at the great entrance that she had only been able to ever imagine within her dreams and thoughts.  
"Yes." Dynamis said with a small and weary smile, beckoning the pinkette along with a simply hand gesture of which she followed without question, "Its actually not too hard to find once you know the area well enough. Gingka and the others have been here as well.."  
Maru looked up in curiosity towards the elder of them both as she followed the Guardian into the Shrine's shadow that it cast upon both of them. Looks like the long hikes through the forest and the mountains really did pay off, for a sight as unimaginable as this.

"Was that back when you all fought against Nemesis?" The mechanic asked in curiosity, following Dynamis to the entrance of the Shrine of which he knew well.  
As he stopped just before it, he turned back slightly and looked down at her with a fond expression.  
"It was." He said before continuing on, beckoning the girl along as they both entered the Mist Mountain Shrine.  
It was a rather dark, as it was encased within the mountain itself, yet it wasn't impossible to see with the dim lighting that seemed to come from no where, as well as when your eyes adjusted to the nearly consuming darkness.  
"I've guarded this Shrine for my entire life.." Dynamis explained, his robes dancing along behind him gently as they both walked through the temple - it was cavernous, seeming almost endless with the huge pillars that lined the room like dots, reaching up to the high ceiling that Maru could barely see in the dim darkness, "And for as long as I can possibly remember, the duty has been passed down from generation to generation... You could almost call it a family heirloom if you wanted to."  
Maru was far too entranced by the magnificent aura of the shrine to really answer, but she had definitely heard him; the ache in her legs and chest were long forgotten as she followed him through the large room towards an unknown destination, wondering how on earth they were going to possibly find the answers that they were looking for - if those answers even existed.

"Hey Dynamis." Maru began, "Would it be possible for me to contact the Director or Chief from here? I said I'd call when we got here, but I never thought about if I'd be able too..." Dynamis smiled kindly down at the pinkette.  
"Well, if I was able to get in contact with you from here, you might be able too as well." He said as they continued on throughout the great hall, "The connection isn't very good, but with as high tech as your laptop is, you should be able to contact them with little problems."

"This is where you've been calling from?..." Maru asked, astonished.  
"Yes." Dynamis answered, "If I had been closer to Metal Bey City, let alone civilization at the time, the calls would've been clearer. The best place to do it, though, is right up ahead."  
Maru quietly agreed and followed the Guardian of the Mist Mountain Shrine, knowing that he was the one who had been here perhaps his whole life and obviously knew it better than she - and perhaps anyone else - ever could.  
He eventually lead her to a platform against a wall, heading up a few stairs with some sort of throne at the back directly in the center - now that her eyes had properly adjusted to the level of darkness, she saw that the wall behind it was stone, still with pillars lining it as if support the stone room that had, as it stood, a low chance of coming down on them.  
"Right here?" Maru asked as they both reached the top of the small flight of stairs, looking up at Dynamis who nodded with a small 'mm-hm' in confirmation. With that said, Maru took her backpack off and set it in front of her, unzipping the top and letting her eyes adjust to the darkness so that she could find her laptop.

Once she was able to, she pulled and out and placed it on the seat of the throne so that she could kneel on the floor as she worked - yes, she could work with it in her lap and on her knees very well, but she found this a bit more to liking; as long as Dynamis didn't mind, she was sure it was okay.  
Maru opened up her laptop to the desktop, of which she - proudly - had displayed a picture of a small kitten with baby blue eyes as her background.  
This elicited a small chuckle from Dynamis, who looked away while covering his mouth slightly; Maru didn't seem to notice as she brought up the screen...

* * *

After calming down a fair bit Madoka, Zyro, Ren, Shinobu, and Benkei had gone to the WBBA at Tsubasa's request, allowing Kite and Eight to stay behind to keep watch on Gingka's condition, as it constantly needed to be observed even though they knew that it would be easier to just let him pass the next time something that severe happened...  
As much as they cared about him, cared if he suffered and whether or not he was dying, they just couldn't find the will to just let him go just like that.  
Yet now, they didn't even really know why.  
"You're still working on finding Alcorin?" Benkei asked as they all stood in front of Tsubasa, who nodded his head a bit as his golden-brown eyes looked towards the purplenette.  
"We've almost covered all ground within a 3 mile radius surrounding Metal Bey City, and we haven't come up with anything." The Director explained with a solemn expression, "But it also means we are narrowing down where he could be.. Hikaru and Sichiro have been able to clear up the programming in one of the WBBA's network scan systems, so we'll be able to identify all people within the camera's line of view."

"So you'll be able to find him?" Shinobu questioned.

"We hope.." Tsubasa said with a small sigh, glancing down at the ground before looking back towards one of his friends - Madoka.  
The woman had not said a word since they had arrived at the WBBA, a stoic look on her beautiful features with a sadness in her eyes that crushed a tired soul - he was able to see that in people at times, like Madoka herself rather lately and even Zyro.  
Though, those 2 were quite understandable.  
"Madoka?" He said softly, their eyes all turning towards the brunette of which he spoke to.  
There was a silence for several moments, as if Madoka had just sided to ignore them or to remain mute for the rest of this while he mind constantly swirled around Gingka and his condition.

"What's the point?.." She said softly, a sense of hopelessness in her voice as she refused to look anyone in the eyes at the moment.  
"What do you mean?" Tsubasa asked, tilting his head slightly in concern for the brunette.  
"I mean, what's the point of this anymore?.." Madoka answered, looking up somewhat towards the silver-haired man with eyes that told entirely different stories than he could ever imagine - stories of hopelessness, times of when they were all together, times when they could be happy, times of when Gingka was with them, times when they could actually hope for the better...

"The point is that we'll be able to find the sicko who did this to Gingka in the first place." Benkei said, looking at his long-time friend out of concern just as all of them gave.  
"Well, yeah.." Madoka breathed out, seemingly trying to keep unfallen tears in that she knew would mean absolutely nothing in the end, "But... Is there even a point to it anymore?.. Trying to save him when he's going to die anyway? If that's going to happen, why even bother looking for Alcorin anymore?... No matter if we find him or not, he's gonna win either way."  
All of them had their eyes on Madoka, looking at the hopelessness that had overtaken her from her previously strong demeanor over the situation - this couldn't be the Madoka that they knew.

"Madoka-" Tsubasa was cut off in his sentence as he heard a noise from behind him, reflexively turning his head to see something had come up on the screen behind them all - a small window with the light green letters spelling:

 **Incoming Call...**

 **Location: Unknown**

 **Caller: Unknown**

Golden-brown eyes narrowed slightly at the screen as it remained all like that for several moments, all of them instinctively preparing for the worst until the connection finally stabilized.  
The face that appeared on the screen was Maru, being able to see her face with the dim lighting of the Mist Mountain Shrine and the glow from her computer screen, a slight buzz seen on the edges of screen possibly from the connection that they got from there.  
"Maru?" Ren asked in curiosity, blinking to see if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not.  
"Hi everyone!" Maru greeted, a light buzzing under-toning her voice when she spoke.  
"I take it you both made it to the Mist Mountain Shrine alright?" Tsubasa asked, relieved at this point to have some sort of comfort from anything.  
"Yeah, Dynamis is here with me." Maru said, and - as if being summoned - they saw Dynamis lean down slightly so that he was slightly visible on the screen, lifting a hand in silent greeting towards them as Maru continued talking, "The connection is probably a little bad, so there's probably a bit of distortion.. I dunno how long I can keep this for, either."

"Well, its good to know you're alright, at least." Tsubasa said as he brushed his bangs out of his eyes only for them to fall back into place, "We're still working on finding Alcorin over here, but its good to know you 2 are doing your part at the Shrine."  
Maru agreed with a small smile and nod, her lavender eyes somewhat making their way towards Madoka of who she had noticed had not said a word - and who evidently didn't look like herself.  
"Madoka?" Maru questioned, a concerned expression on her face as she watched as the brunette didn't respond.  
All of their eyes shifted to Madoka for a moment as well, and Tsubasa was the first to give any sort of answer as he looked to the pinkette once more.  
"Something happened with Gingka.." The silvernette said with a dreaded in his voice, concerning Maru even further as well as Dynamis who was still there with her, "He's dying quicker than we thought he was.. We don't know how much time we have left before his heart stops.."

Maru's face looked like that of a puppy, as if her ears had drooped and her eyes were wide with tears - only this was a more realistic sadness than imagining that.  
"Oh, I see..." She said in a subdued voice, not knowing exactly what to make of the whole thing now that she knew that, "Well, me and Dynamis won't stop until we've searched this place inch from inch!"

"There's no point in it..." Come the voice of Madoka once again, drawing their eyes all towards the brunette and who stared mostly down towards the ground with eyes that had lost all hope within them, "It won't matter either way.. Alcorin will win no matter what we do..."

"Madoka?..." Maru murmured slightly, looking at her teacher with a worried look on her features as she heard her words, almost unable to believe them.  
"None of this will even matter in the end." Madoka said, her hair drooping down her face slightly in a way that shadowed the light that had once been there, destroying the hope that had once been in her eyes of ever saving Gingka.  
"So, what?..." Shinobu asked, "Are you saying that this is all just.. For nothing?"

Madoka didn't answer.  
They were all able to look at her face, and see the darkness that had disturbed her soul, nearly consuming the hope that she had had entirely and replacing it with nothing but dread that stood and cast a shadow over her.  
Zyro looked at her, and he saw the exact same thing that he had felt numerously, a feeling that had destroyed part of the hope that he had for ever saving Gingka.  
The only thing that even kept him standing was the words that Kira often spoke to him, and the voices that dwell in the back of his head and nearly made him think that he was going crazy; it was likely the only explanation except for schizophrenia.  
"He's dying..." Madoka said in a subdued and hopeless voice, "Nothing can save a dying person.. It was pointless from the start.."  
They all stared at her, not saying a word as her words seemed to effect them all like sun did to ice.  
Slowly melting the hardened surface that could withstand the coldest of weathers that it was born from, yet slowly dying in the light of realization of what it truly was and what weaknesses it had.  
For several moments, they all just stood in silence, with nothing but the sound of the light buzzing from the slightly poor connection of where Maru and Dynamis was - the pinkette had never seen her teacher like this before.

She had watched as she had cried, wept, sulked over this entire situation in the span of 5 days to a week.  
In such a short amount of time, they had all suffered a great deal, more than they had ever managed at the most unexpected of times - but this was not who Maru knew.  
Maru narrowed her eyes slightly, a look that almost made it seem like she was about to cry from the silence of hopelessness that had passed between them all all because of Madoka; what they didn't expect, however, was for Maru to snap at her.

"He's still alive, Madoka, he's not dead yet!" Everyone nearly jumped from the volume in her voice, the buzzing of the poor connection under-toning her voice but that melody still being able to overcome it.  
Madoka's eyes shot up to the screen, looking Maru in the eyes that she should have when she had first heard her voice and the news of arriving at the Mist Mountain Shrine, a stunned look in them that was a mixture of shock, fear, and hopelessness; granted with hanging around them a lot, none of them had really established the teacher and student's background with each other, but they knew them well enough to know that Maru had _never_ raised her voice at Madoka.

"Maru..." Madoka said softly, staring into the fire that burned in the lavender eyes she had known for so many years.

"I can't believe you would say something like that, Madoka!" Maru continued, her determination and fury all too evident to them all as no one said a word, "I thought I knew you better, but apparently not... Its been 5 days.. _5 days_ and you've already given up?!"  
Madoka's turquoise eyes stared at the small Mechanic on the other side of the screen, the soft static sound filling her ears in an uncomfortable silence as she stood there frozen.  
"Maru..." She said again softly, "We knew there was no hope in saving him from the beginning... He's dying.. That's not just something that you can prevent with the snap of your fingers.."

"But there _is_ still hope, he taught you that!" All of their eyes widened at this statement from Maru - even Dynamis, though without them being able to see him, looked at the pinkette with wide cerulean eyes.  
He had known Maru to be quite determined after doing something as tricky as watching Gingka's condition without anyone suspecting anything, especially explaining what she had vaguely seen it was doing him, but this... This is what he had been looking for.  
"I've known you for years, Madoka!" Maru said without waiting for an answer, an angry look in her eye from seeing such a pathetically sad state that Madoka had gone in too - even with what Tsubasa had described had happened to Gingka while her and Dynamis were on their way here, this was no excuse for her behavior, "What happened to always being strong.. To face the world no matter what happens and not matter how hard things get?!.. What happened to hoping for a better tomorrow?"

Madoka had been so hopeful, so desperately hoping that they could find anything that could even give them a hint if there was a way to save Gingka's life; now Maru was just sitting there and wondering how her mentor had been reduced to this in such little time.  
And now, Madoka stared at her student wordlessly, her feelings unknown visually of Maru's words as she scolded the woman that she had known for years.  
"What good will it do for Gingka if you just sit around and sulk all day?" Maru asked sternly, making sure to look into her teacher's eyes directly despite being behind a computer screen, "What would _he_ say about it?.. We _can_ save him! Wouldn't he want you to still have hope that there's at least something that you can do, or.. Did he actually make all of these friendships with so many people... Just for you to give up on him?"  
Those words the words that hit home, striking Madoka in the back of the head like a metal baseball bat that broke through everything. Madoka still didn't say a word, everything seeming to go limp as she stood there frozen with those words striking against the wall of hopelessness and despair that had been built up around her and breaking them down into pieces.

Tsubasa, who had walked over to his desk to watch the time of connection that they had left with Maru, watched as it started to lessen, glancing at the screen and seeing that the short static was becoming more and more visible as well as audible.  
"Maru, we're losing you." He said as a warning, telling the small mechanic that she had a limited amount of time left to talk to them from where they were.  
"O-okay." She said, looking towards Madoka once again who was now looking down at the floor slightly - yet even so, the air around her seemed to visibly clear, as if something had changed everything that had clouded her mind and made her believe that everything they were doing was pointless.  
This was now more of the woman that Maru knew.  
"There is still time..." Maru said as the connection behind began to ultimately fail on her, "You just have to believe that..."

It was with those final words did the connection cut out entirely, leaving them with a blank screen in a silence that could've been deafening if it was possible.  
"Well, looks like the kid has some sense." Came a familiar voice from the doorway of which they all heard open, all eyes turning in the direction of it's source - all of their eyes widened at who they saw. Now this was new.  
"Kira?" Zyro questioned quietly, his voice nearly sounding like a yell within the silence that had come of the room.  
"Nice to see you too.." Kira said solemnly, not truly meaning it, "I was going to come in earlier, but I thought I might as well listen to the conversation."  
Shinobu raised an eyebrow, a tension passing between the two bladers as they still did not have much of a subtle aura between them - Shinobu, throughout the span of 5 days whenever Kira was around, would glare at Bahamoote blader whenever he came in the room or whenever they were somewhere together, out of the pure fact that the smoke hadn't cleared between the.  
Of course, that would likely take awhile.

"How are you even here?" The light-haired blader asked, "I thought you didn't want anyone at the WBBA seeing you."  
At this, Kira simply rolled his wrist off to the side in that feminine way of his.  
"Well, you are right about that.." He began, closing his one eye for a moment before opening it again, "But when you have somewhere essentially close to the Director accompanying you, nobody asks questions.. Hikaru, I think her name is... But anyway, at least it's good to know I'm not the only one who thinks that you should at least try and stay grounded."

"Gingka _is_ dying fast, though..." Ren said as she looked down at the ground, lightly scratching her right cheek with 2 of her fingernails.  
"Well, then it gives you all the more motivation to try.." The multicolor-haired blader said with a hand on his hip, "The girl has a point.. In my opinion, he'd probably be offended that you'd lose so easily just because he stopped breathing for a few minutes.. But you know him, not me."  
Zyro blinked silently, looking at the former DNA blader with nearly blank eyes that could've told a story of a thousand words.  
Kira claimed he didn't care about Gingka's condition at all, and that the only reason he was even doing all of this for them was just to return the favor to Zyro, which was something that the ginger-ravenette could understand perfectly without the other blader having to say a word.  
He had actually proven sort of useful, despite what the other thought about him - there was the fact that he was the only one who wasn't effected by the situation at all, giving them the upper hand with him at least _trying_ to help out.  
Yet even with Kira's uncaring nature towards Gingka at all, there was just something strange about the entire thing that made the Fire Blader just really stop and wonder... There was something else to this with Kira, wasn't there?  
Maybe that was just his imagination, as many things seemed to be now...

* * *

Maru sighed softly once the connection cut of, leaving her at the desktop where she had previously been before getting in contact with the WBBA of Metal Bey City.  
"I don't know you too well.." Dynamis began to break the silence between them, "But I didn't depict you as the type to ever raise your voice to someone who have a close relationship with, especially not Madoka."  
Maru made a soft sound, her lavender eyes looking over towards the purple-greynette.  
"S-sorry.." She said, though Dynamis only returned it with a smile.  
"Not at all." He said, surprising the girl as she looked at him fully, "You accepted the task of watching Gingka's condition over the span of a couple, knowing that you were going behind Madoka's back out of pure determination to do what you believed was best. That was one thing... But standing up to someone your as close too as Madoka, out of determination that there's still hope we can save him even after the news that he's dying faster than we believed.. That gave me all the proof I needed. Out of all the people that I have allowed to be here, you are one of the most worthy that I've ever encountered."  
At this, a small smile made it's way onto Maru's lips in turn.  
With that, the girl closed her laptop and allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness once more, seeing nothing but pure blackness in front of her vision for a few moments before the dim lighting finally made seeing possible.  
Carefully did she reach for her backpack and place her laptop neatly back inside before zipping it up again and picking it up to place it around her back.

"So, where to first?" Maru asked, seeing a soft smile cross Dyanmis's face that was as cold as the air around them.  
"Well, I think I might know a good place to start." He said before beckoning the girl along with a movement of his head. Maru obediently followed the Guardian as they left the area of the throne and headed elsewhere - she obviously didn't know where they were going, so she just followed him and trusted that he knew where he was going.  
"So..." She began somewhat awkwardly, "How exactly did you just get the feeling that.. There was a way to save Gingka?... And how did you know about his condition in the first place before anyone else did?" Dynamis's cerulean blue eyes glanced down at the pinkette before looking back up. "It's quite strange, actually.." Dynamis began as they continued walking to one of the areas of where he knew inscriptions were carved on the walls, "You can choose to believe me or not, but it actually came to be in a dream... I met with someone, but I didn't know who they were.. I couldn't see their face, and even know I can barely remember half of the things they said.. But they were kneeling, and they wore something that looked like a plain dress with long sleeves, almost like a nightgown.."

"So, a spirit?" Maru suggested as she tilted her head, intrigued by Dynamis's story. "I'm not sure." The Guardian replied as they continued walking, "But they told me that a 'friend' of mine's life was coming to an end, a blader that was known throughout the world. Of course, you can guess who they were hinting at... I didn't think anything of it at first, but I've learned to listen to my dreams - even if their ridiculous."  
Maru thought it over for a brief moment, thinking about Dyanmis's explanation silently yet feeling like it was told in some alien language that she couldn't even make out.  
"So that's how you knew?" She asked.  
"Vaguely, but yes." The Guardian answered as they both headed through an archway that seemed like a sort of doorway into a room that seemed nearly identical to the one they were in, only Maru was dimly able to see the end of it from where they were, "I knew that having a dream as clear as that one, one that nearly felt real, couldn't just be passed off as simply nothing. So I took action as soon as I could, and then got in contact with you through the WBBA."  
Maru looked at him in interest, listening to his explanation thoroughly while they approached the place of the temple that Dynamis had seemed to be heading for.  
"Between your calls, I looked throughout the Shrine as much as could." Dynamis continued, "There are inscriptions written on the walls in several areas of the Shrine, but half of them I'm unable to read. Yet there was one that I was able to find that I could dimly read that may help us."

At last, both of them stopped walking and looked at the wall, which was covered in inscriptions that were entirely different language than anything had really seen.  
"It's in Arabic." Dynamis said as he saw the bewilderment on the girl's face, "I'm so good at reading or speaking the language, but I am able to get bits and pieces of it."

"What does it say?" Maru asked as she looked at the inscriptions in front of her and then further up the wall.  
"Well, I'm not good at translating things that well.." Dynamis stated, "But with as much as I was able to read, it tells some sort of story of Nemesis, the God of Destruction that Gingka rid the world of 7 years ago.. I don't know what it has to do with Gingka's condition, except for the fact that it mentions Nemesis had many powers, and I think it implies that one of them was able to bring death upon people with no apparent cause."

"The God of Destruction lived up to his name, huh?" Maru asked, eliciting a quiet chuckle from the Guardian of which she was barely able to hear.  
"I suppose so.." He agreed, "But out of all of it, that's most of what I'm able to read.. The rest might as well be alien to me."  
Maru made a soft humming sound as she scanned over the foreign language as well, barely being able to see half of it in the darkness that her eyes had already adjusted to.  
"What language can you read the best?" The pinkette asked out of what appeared to be sheer curiosity. Dynamis's cerulean blue eyes - the one that was visible, anyway - glanced down towards the small Mechanic, a solemn look on his face.  
"Egyptian." He answered, "Why?"  
Maru didn't directly answer as she lay her backpack down once more, unzipping the top of it and pulling out her laptop once more, sitting on her knees for a place to put it as she worked.  
Dynamis peaked over her shoulder slightly, though he didn't interrupt her as she typed frantically on the keyboard before reaching an arm underneath the device and standing up with it.

She looked up towards the inscriptions on the wall and began to back up, some sort of type window open on her computer screen.  
"What are you doing?" Dynamis out of curiosity as he watched the girl's actions, watching as she backed up rather far away up to a pillar, aiming her laptop in way while a small light beside the outer camera glowed a white color.  
"I got this new thing downloaded onto my laptop a few months ago." Maru began to explain while she simultaneously did something on her computer, "Like most laptops do with foreign languages that are different from your own, it actually scans over something in a language that you don't understand and translate it into whatever language you choose. You said you could read Egyptian the best out of all languages, so I'm translating it for you."  
Dynamis blinked for a moment and opened his mouth to say something, before closing it again with a puzzled look as he looked in the direction he was facing - it was actually quite funny, to see him standing there as he tried to piece together that for a moment before his face went back to its more solemn look.  
Maru hummed softly as she got the entire thing in the camera's view, typing with hand as she steadily balanced the laptop in her arms and had it scan over the inscriptions once it had taken a full picture of them.

She had done this a few times before, mostly just for fun and the need to try out the new software, so she had little problem in getting it to do what she wanted.  
It might've cut out a word or 2, but she would blame the darkness for that as she worked on translating the Arabic into the language that she now knew Dynamis could read the best.  
Slowly she walked back over, her eyes glancing up to make sure she didn't run into the wall or something as she typed a few more things on the keyboard before everything was done - Maru definitely couldn't understand the characters or the words that it had been translated into. But she knew that Dynamis could.  
"Here you go." She said and turned the screen towards him, allowing him to read the contents as he bent down.  
Quietly did she watch Dynamis as he read, his one visible eye darting across the lines as he read - and as his face became more and more grave.  
Eventually his eyes widened in what looked like disbelief, seeming to have found something that could be the answer to what they were looking for.  
"That's it..." He said, standing upright as Maru lowered her computer, closing the lid and placing it down by her backpack as she looked at the Guardian.  
"What is?" She asked out of curiosity, looking up at Dynamis with her lavender eyes.  
Dynamis's face turned grave once more, looking down towards the girl with cerulean eyes that looked like they had just seen into the abyss itself.

"I know how we can save him.." A small smile crossed Maru's face at their success - but all of their feelings of triumph and hope were soon cut off as they both froze, as the sound of a slow clap filled their ears and echoed off the walls.

"Well, well, well, you two _are_ very creative when it comes to finding answers, aren't you?.." Said a voice that sounded like the sweetest ringing of small bells, yet with the frightening roar of a lion mixed in - a voice that was entirely calm, almost sounding harmless and carefree, and yet had such a deliciously malicious tone to it that was just surreal.  
Both of them swiftly turned around alarm to the source of the sound and the voice, and both of them saw the same thing - a man with what appeared to be dark blue hair that went down to his shoulders, pale skin that was mostly covered by the trench coat, white pants, and boots that he wore and golden-brown eyes that seemed... Familiar?

"Who are you?" Dynamis demanded, standing in front of Maru slightly of the feeling that he just had to protect her from whoever this was, "And how, or why, are you here?"  
They both heard a small giggle escape the man's lips, something that sent shivers down their spine like nothing ever had before - something about his voice just seemed... Off, you could say.  
"Who am I?" The man repeated playfully, maliciously, cruelly, and yet sweetly all the same, "You have 3 guesses, but I'll give you a hint. I'm the guy, that's killing the guy, that you're trying to save."  
Both of their eyes widened at this statement, soft gasps escaping them both in near unison as if they were programmed to do so.

"You're Alcorin?" Maru questioned, her eyes wide in what felt like fear, the emotion coursing through her veins at the mere sight of looking at him, seeing the look in those golden-brown eyes that seemed to hold so much more than previously thought.  
"Well, last time I checked I was." Alcorin with a small smirk, a childlike aura about him that was just terrifying, "Besides, I don't think there's anyone else that's capable of traveling from where I was to hear in the blink of an eye, so I'd probably say so... But let's get past that, shall we?"

Another small giggle came from Alcorin, and a swift flick of his hand, something lay in his palm, his fingers gently enclosed around the object as to not drop it. Dynamis narrowed his eyes at the dark bluenette, seeing the quite look on his face.  
"Why are you here?.." The Guardian demanded, his voice seeming to echo throughout the Shrine like a god, his authority recognized by that of who had walked into the temple itself.  
"Well, I think it's fair to say that I followed you..." Alcorin said in a carefree tone, "I honestly expected you not to find anything, but let's say that I simply like to check things twice. But that's not your issue, now is it?"  
A chuckle came from the back of his throat, a small smirk on his face that could've once been a sweet smile.  
"What you should really be concerned out.." He said with a terrifying look in his eyes, holding out his left hand slightly to somewhat show them what he held in his possession, "Is _this_.."

Dynamis's eyes widened, almost as if realizing something yet with the slightest hint of confusion behind his eyes.  
"You know, those little times when 'he' freaks out aren't just for no reason.." Alcorin said with a sly look on his face, a small giggle escaping his lips that only made him even more creepier than they had ever pictured him to be.  
The dark bluenette let out was somewhat a sigh and brought the crimson orb that he held - which appeared to have a small crack on its surface - a bit closer to him, the fingers of his right hand gently brushing over it like a ghost.  
"Of course, you don't really need me to tell you why.." He said almost dreamily, "Maybe something you can figure out on your own.. And perhaps, after it's too late."  
With a hysteric giggle, his clenched his fingers around the orb in his eyes, the object seeming to glow brighter from the very core as if it were hurting, as if he were crushing it and it could feel every single little aspect of the process.  
And it almost seemed to pulsate, perhaps visibly... Like a...

"Stop it!" Maru shouted, a desperate look in her eyes as a feeling of dread hit her in the bottom of her stomach, her cut aching as a terrible feeling washed over her as she watched as the small crack on the surface seemed to on in the slightest bit across the previously smooth outer layer.  
Alcorin, as if willing to listen to her demand, abruptly stopped squeezing, still holding the crimson orb gingerly in his hand while the glowing from the core died down, as if it's pain had been stopped, so suddenly and lived to breath in the end of it's suffering.

"Who are you?" Dynamis demanded, as if he hadn't heard the mention of Alcorin's name from Maru or hadn't even heard of his existence at all.  
But Maru could see that Alcorin knew it was different than that, a look of interest sparking in his eyes as that smirk almost faded from his lips, only to show up there again as the orb in his hand disappeared.  
"Well.." He said, his voice sounding like it was echoing under itself, "Now.. **This is interesting...** "

Something struck Dynamis like a brick wall, his eyes widening and his pupils dilating as he appeared to feel something, almost staggering back and stepping back a step to regain his balance.  
"Dynamis?" Maru questioned out of concern, looking at the grey-purplenette with worried lavender eyes.  
But Dynamis didn't respond as he stared at Alcorin, watching as red seemed to bleed into his irises, glowing a demonic red as his voice seemed to echo in his head, taking hold of him and making him stay where he was, unable to fight back.  
"T-this power..." He whispered, his entire body seeming to shake in what appeared to be now nothing but pure fear, "I-it can't be.. You can't be..."  
A malicious giggle escaped Alcorin's lips as he walked closer to the 2 of them, his footsteps seeming so delicate and yet so filled with authority, every step he took seeming to echo throughout the halls like a scream.  
Maru looked at the dark bluenette with fear-filled eyes, seeing his now bright crimson eyes glance over at her as his smirk seemed to widen.  
"Excuse me, dear." He said sweetly before flicking his fingers to the side, an invisible force grabbing Maru abruptly and hitting her away, sending her flying across the room and landing on the ground while skinning her knees and tearing the sleeves of her shirt, pain pulsating throughout her body at the sudden landing.

"Maru!" Dynamis said in alarm, but was unable to do anything more before he felt something around his neck - something that wasn't invisible a force that lifted him into the air as Alcorin approached, his hand outstretched and suspending the Legendary Blader helplessly.  
Dynamis grasped at the invisible force around his neck, barely able to take in air and making it difficult to breathe, only able to open one eye as he gazed down at Alcorin, looking into a face that now told so many stories, so much blood, sweat, and tears that lay behind such a terrifying person, the eyes that - perhaps - been so innocently filled with light that had been destroyed over the span of his life.  
Alcorin's eyes no longer reflected light, turning into ones that seemed to go back so far that Dynamis couldn't even remember, to a time when he might have not even been around - and when he spoke, it echoed in his ears and in his mind like nothing he had ever experienced before.

" **You know who I am... Don't you?** " Alcorin spoke, his voice echoing under itself in an entirely different voice as it seemed, " **You know what I am... You've seen it... You know, right?..** "  
Dynamis struggled to breathe as he also focused on Alcorin's words, trying to suck in air while he was still held firmly by the neck by an invisible force that Alcorin had created to do his bidding.

" **You can see who I am... Who walks in my shadow and who's shadow I walk in.. You know what I'm after.. Don't you, Dynamis?..** " Dynamis tried desperately not to listen to his words as they filled his ears, filled his mind and crawled under his skin and made him shiver to the bone.  
He was right.. He had seen who he was, what he was, by looking into the red eyes that went back years, all the way back too...

No.. What had he seen?

What was this truth that was before his eyes?..

What was this that lie behind Alcorin's eyes?

Someone..

Someone..

" **You can't stop me...** " Alcorin said with an insane look in his crimson eyes, " **You looked into my eyes, and you realized the choice that you had to make... There's a way to save him, isn't there, Dynamis?... But at the greatest cost that you will all have to make..** "

Dynamis gasped for air, whimpering as pain gathered in his chest, unable to stand the aching in his head as those words filled his ears.

" **I will have my way with him...** " Alcorin said, his words bleeding into Dynamis's head agonizingly, slowly, painfully as he tortured him from the inside out, " **You know who I am... You know what I am... And I live in 'his' shadow.. Though, I supposed you've realized it by now, Dynamis... I'm the one you should be fearing, for more than one reason... I am far above all that you are.. And I am not alone,** ** _Dynamis_** **.. And you know why, don't you?** "

Alcorin's eyes widened slightly, pulsating a demonic red that Dynamis's eyes were just able to catch before he screamed hoarsely from what sounded like pain.  
A hysteric laugh escaped Alcorin's lips with a demonic undertone that had been heard somewhere before, before he swung his arm in a different direction and flung Dynamis away, his spine being the part to make impact on one of the large stone pillars and eliciting a weak cry from him before there was a faint snapping sound, gravity then taking it's tole and sending him to the ground like a rock.  
Alcorin's eyes turned back into the calm golden-brown color they had originally been, his giggling being the one thing that echoed throughout the shrine much like Dynamis's voice seemed to - and as his giggling calmed, he looked at the fallen Guardian with a look on his face that was only one of pure insanity, the pure fact that he didn't care in the slightest, the pure lust that he felt for inflicting such pain and misery onto another...

It was something inhuman.

Just like him.

"You're capable of resisting.." Alcorin said, knowing full well that - now - Dynamis would no longer be able to hear him, "That's what intrigues about you, Dynamis... But it couldn't last."  
A small laugh made its way from his lips, a terrifying sound that, at one time, could've been so beautiful and innocent that it could've made anyone smile - now it was nothing more than something that could strike fear into the hearts of anyone who heard it ringing in their ears and in their mind.  
"Goodnight, sweet Guardian..." Alcorin said with a small sigh before walking into nothingness as he disappeared from the Shrine all together, his footsteps echoing dimly until they faded.  
It was the sound that caused Maru to shakily open her eyes, pain coursing through her body and noises ringing in her ears that were absolutely horrifying.  
Her knees might've been bleeding, as well as her elbows from the fabric that had been torn upon impact with the hard stone - it hurt.  
But the pain was the one thing that she forgot about once she focused on her sight, now able to see clearly in front of her - and see Dynamis on the floor beneath one of the many pillars within the Shrine, seemingly unconscious; but the aura that she felt, the feeling that pooled in the pit of her stomach said otherwise.

"Dynamis!" The pinkette cried out, ignoring the pain that shot through her body and hurrying over to the Guardian of Mist Mountain, kneeling beside him hurriedly and shaking his shoulder and triceps with both hands.  
"Dynamis?" Maru called, trying to awaken the Legendary Blader, get him to open his eyes, _anything_ that could show he was alright, "Dynamis, please, answer me! Wake up!"

Maru's breathing was frantic as she tried to shake Dynamis out of unconsciousness, knowing that he was unconscious and that it was only that.

He _was_ unconscious... Right?

"DYNAMIS!?"


	25. Chapter 24 - We're Still Here

Chapter 24 - We're Still Here

* * *

 **2 Days Ago**

Sakyo had been the one to help Takanosuke clean himself up after he had fallen off of the railing at the stadium; though the scratches on his hands, legs, and face weren't even anything to worry about, he was grateful for the older blader helping him even though he didn't have too - Sakyo had simply shrugged it off as they both walked down by the river, Takanosuke almost skipping along behind the redhead like he usually did.  
The silence was quite awkward between the two sometimes when things like these occured - Sakyo really didn't seem like the type he would so concerned about someone else getting hurt, or bothering to really help them at all.  
But Sakyo had indicated that Takanosuke was the only person he really thought of as a 'friend', so... Well, it really confused the blond on exactly how Sakyo felt about him whether as a friend or not but he didn't question him, he usually just followed him around like a puppy because he really looked up to him.  
Yet even with their 'sort of' friendship there was still awkwardness between them - though Sakyo tended to be less obvious about it.

"Uh, thanks Sakyo.." Takanosuke said awkwardly as he followed along behind the elder, "For patching me up, I mean."  
Sakyo let out a soft humming sound as he continued walking, not looking towards the younger.  
"Don't worry about it.." The Dragoon Blader said gruffly as they walked, "Just be more careful next time." Takanosuke's eyes widened slightly at that word of advice before a smile crossed his face.  
"Okay." He agreed cheerfully as he followed along behind the elder blader - but of course, the memory of what happened earlier that day came back to his mind.  
The images that he had seen before his closed eyes, things that seemed so real and yet so unimaginable at the same time that he didn't know what to make of it - there was no way those things could be real, it wasn't even possible, but... At the same time, a thought and a memory came to his mind about how it just might make sense, just maybe. But it was in a way that most people weren't likely to believe.  
But even so, he wasn't able to stop the next words from coming out of his mouth.

"Hey, Sakyo.." Takanosuke began, "Do you believe in seeing the future?" Sakyo stopped walking abruptly at that question, his red eyes turning in slight confusion towards the younger blader.

"Why do you ask?" Sakyo questioned as he turned slightly towards his friend, curiosity somewhat coming up in him from his unexpected question.  
"W-well, no reason.." Takanosuke said hurriedly, averting his eyes away from Sakyo's, "I-I was just w-wondering, is all... Like, do you believe in the gift of Foresight."  
Sakyo raised an eyebrow slightly. Where was all of this coming from so suddenly? "Does this have something to do with what happened earlier today?" The redhead asked, looking intently at the blond with stern eyes.  
"N-no it doesn't!" Takanosuke said almost too quickly, "W-well.. At least, um.. Not exactly, but.." His own cerulean blue eyes caught Sakyo's red ones, seeing the look in his eyes that was capable of sending shivers down his spine and forced him to tell the truth. Eventually, he just gave in.  
"Well..." The younger blader started, "I-it sounds weird, but.. I saw something. Like saw something that wasn't there, but kind of in my head.. I-I don't know what it was, but it felt like... Like it's supposed to _mean_ something.."  
Sakyo listened intently to Takanosuke as he spoke, finding interest in this subject that he normally wouldn't have been interested in at all.  
"And how did it happen?" The Dragoon blader asked, still looking at Takanosuke intently as he waited for an answer.  
"I-I don't know.." The Griffin Blader stuttered, "I me- I mean, I-I kind of think I know what the answer is, but... You'd think it's ridiculous."  
A silence passed between the two of them, neither of them saying a word as if the silence was all that they needed to speak - and even in the silence that was somewhat broken by the soft waves and the cries of the seagulls, Takanosuke already knew that Sakyo was waiting for an answer.  
With a shaky sigh he looked up slightly through his eyelashes, offering an answer that he knew as ridiculous - and yet at the same time, it was the only thing that made sense.  
"My grandmother was a seer..."

* * *

 **Present Day**

Kite and Eight had reported that Gingka had - once more - began hyperventilating while the others were at the WBBA, though thankfully it wasn't anything to serious as it had been earlier that day.  
Madoka now stood beside his bed, gently making sure of his condition before they all settled down for the night - the rest of them had gone home save for Zyro who stayed at the B-Pit with Madoka, helping the brunette with Gingka to make sure that he was stable for the night.  
The shop owner hadn't said much since they returned from the B-Pit, but the aura that had been around her previously had diminished and replaced with one that didn't reek of hopelessness and despair, agony and dread, like it had before.  
They had all been glad for that when they felt the air around her clear up. Zyro was now the one who could tell the difference the most, seeing as how he was now alone with both her and Gingka and could - somehow - feel both of their auras.

Gingka's, however, as strong as it had been, was now weak and could barely be felt; from one blader to another, Gingka's aura said way more about his condition and how much longer he would last than his heartbeat actually did.  
"How are you feeling, Madoka?" Zyro asked out of concern for the brunette, who jumped slightly at hearing his voice as if just noticing that he was there at all.  
"O-oh.." The brunette said in realization, "Better, now.. I guess Maru was right, I was acting... It was pathetic.."

"Well, a lot of us could've been in the same position..." Zyro said in a subdued voice, "The same thing almost happened with me.."  
Madoka's turquoise eyes looked towards the ginger-ravenette, and in that moment she didn't see the innocent child that had been so excited about the tournament a few days ago.  
There was something different about him, as if he had aged in such little time that it was frightening.  
She had seen the light that had been in Zyro's eyes, and now - as he gazed down at the comatose redhead - that light, while still there, had weakened, as if plagued by the war that stood between them and Alcorin; they knew this was all because of Alcorin, which is why they were fighting to find him, but... The damage he had dealt would forever remain.  
"What stopped it?" Madoka asked out of curiosity at Zyro's words, as she made sure the blankets were pulled up where they were supposed to be.

"I promised him.." Zyro said, gesturing towards Gingka with his eyes who breathed weakly on his bed, the heart monitor sounding off every 5-6 seconds with his heartbeat, "I promised I would save him.. I guess that's the one bit of motivation I have for not giving up on him yet."  
Madoka looked at the boy for a moment before a soft smile crossed her face.  
"I know Gingka would be proud of you for that.." The brunette said gratefully, "With all that's happened, at least one of us still has hope."

"Hey, Maru does to." Zyro said with a small smile that was almost sad, "And so does Dynamis from the looks of it."  
Madoka made a soft humming sound as she looked towards the ground slightly.  
"Yeah, I guess so.." She agreed, "I just hope they're okay, but... Then again, Maru has Dynamis with her.. She should be fine."...

* * *

"Dynamis?!" Maru cried as tears made their way into her eyes, unable to prevent them from falling off of her eyelashes and running down her cheeks as fear and panic spread through her veins as she tried to shake Dynamis awake, "Please, wake up!"  
The pinkette breathed heavily in panic, tears welling in her eyes and obstructing her vision as she didn't know what to do.  
"Dynamis, please!" She cried out, shaking his shoulder as it did nothing to wake him, seeing the calm expression on his face with slightly parted lips, as if he was knocked unconscious by the impact on the pillar that they were both under.  
Maru couldn't stop the tears that slowly rolled down her face.

What was she supposed to do?

How was she supposed to do it?

Where? How? When? Why?

She was 6 years old, what did Alcorin want from her?

Why had he just left her here with Dynamis, who was now unconscious and injured.. Unconscious and injured, right?.. _Right_?..

Maru whimpered through her tears as she bit her lip, putting her hands on both sides of her head since her hat had fallen off as the edges of her eyes hurt around her temples, giving her a headache from the force of the tears that made their way out.  
She bit her lip hard to suppress the sobs that filled her, trying not to panic despite the situation she was in.  
Violently wiping away the tears in her eyes, Maru placed one of her hands on Dynamis's shoulder, and the other on his side near his waist and pushed him over onto his side, hearing something that terrified her as his head rolled to the side.  
A tear fell down her face as she went over and positioned his head so that he was facing up, ignoring the sounds that appeared to be coming from his neck as she hovered her cheek just above his mouth to see if he was breathing... He wasn't.  
A small whimper escaped the girl as her hand went his his chest, just above where his heart was - she felt nothing.  
Now panicking, Maru leaned over and placed her ear against his chest right where her hand had been, searching for something - _anything_ \- that could give her the smallest shred of hope that she could... That she could... She heard nothing.

Maru, this time, was incapable of preventing the sobs from escaping her, her small hands grasping at the fabric of Dynamis's robes as she cried into the chest of his now lifeless corpse.  
She had barely anything when Alcorin had thrown her aside, yet she had heard something like muffled talking, almost whispering that was inaudible, then there was a cry that she heard, a male once... And then something slamming against something, and.. A faint snapping sound.  
The whiplash effect, she had read about it.. But at this point, she really wished she hadn't made that decision to do so so long ago; knowing how Dynamis died was not a comforting feeling, even if everyone said that knowing how someone died was so, but... What was she supposed to do?..  
Dynamis had brought her here, she had followed him obediently to try and find a way to save Gingka, she had believed and trusted in him and he had been right that there was a way to save Gingka, and then... Alcorin killed the one person who knew what the answer was.. There wasn't enough battery in her laptop for her to translate anything into a language that she could understand - even at her age it was hard for her to understand some things, but... This wasn't fair.  
Maru was alone now, entirely alone with no way to get back home at all because of how young she was, entirely alone with no one except for the corpse of the one person she had.. So she cried.  
She cried into Dynamis's still chest from the feeling of being so alone, so afraid until her chest hurt, until her head ached and her eyes felt like they were going to fall out of the sockets. She had no way to get home and no way to contact anyone anymore, and... She was alone.

How was this even fair?!

Had Alcorin known that this would happen, that by killing Dynamis he would leave her entirely helpless with no one, no way to get home and no way to get home at all.  
Maru sobbed heavily, lifting herself up off of Dynamis with a tear-stained face, backing away slightly while fear and panic were the only things she felt.  
"What am I supposed to do?!.." She asked no one, her voice going hoarse from the sobs that she had let out earlier.  
Few tears now fell from Maru's eyes, having been nearly drained dry of them from crying into Dynamis's dead body - she didn't know what to do. She was panicking, and she didn't know what to do, what was she supposed to do now?!  
Why had this happened in the first place?

Why to her?... Why to them?... Why...?

 _"Maru..."_

Maru gasped softly at the sound of her name, unable to recognize the voice that spoke in her head. Tear-filled lavender eyes glanced around in a near panic, fear flooding through her veins as she the voice rang in her head before gradually fading - what, was she losing her mind now?  
Did the panic of the situation cause her to hallucinate, was she dreaming? Could all of this - hopefully - just be a dream?..

 _"Maru..."_

The pinkette tensed as the voice seemed closer, turning around slightly on her half-skinned knees with her hands below her chin, as if ready to catch the tears that now weakly rolled down her cheeks.  
"H-hello?.." She called hoarsely, barely able to even speak now from the amount of crying that she had previously done.

She was crazy... She was crazy... It was a dream... It was all just a bad dream... A bad dream...

Even if it was a dream, she was trapped here.

Her and Dynamis had gone through a maze when entering the Temple, one that she knew that anyone could only get through with Dynamis's help - she couldn't remember the way, she had barely been paying attention from how tired she had been.  
It didn't matter what she did... She was trapped here with no way of contacting anybody, no way escape, no one way home... They had failed Gingka... They had said they would find a way to save him, and they had... But they had failed.  
 _She_ had failed by letting Dynamis's inevitable fate run its course, let him die just like that before she could even blink.  
Now she was alone... And Maru had no where to go.

 _"Maru..."_

The girl suddenly found herself wrapped in a white light, closing her eyes tightly as they stung from the brightness, the ache in her head seeming to intensify as she heard faint whispers from all around, as if the spirits of those who had gotten themselves lost within the maze of the temple, or killed for that matter, had come to taunt her about what she failed to do, mocking her until she broke under the pressure and wilted into nothing more than a pile of promises that she had failed to keep.  
Slowly, Maru opened her eyes as the light slowly dimmed and brought her back to where she was, seeming to gather all up into one single figure in front of her as she keeled on the floor, the light gradually taking a human form and yet with no specific details that could truly tell her if it were male or female..  
It was an ethereal type of being, pure white with no specific outlines to fully make out what it looked like, specks of light floating off of its body as if it were slowly breaking apart - and as she could see, they weren't much taller than her.. Taller than her and Eight, but not as tall as Dynamis had been.

Barely was Maru able to see eyes, eyes that were barely visible from the light that emanated from the being - there was an aura about them that was comforting, reassuringly, and yet sad and sorrowful all the same, as if it had spent its entire existence since birth in regret and anguish.  
Yet Maru sat there, quivering in fear before the ethereal being that stood before her, of which - in all reality - may have only been a child itself.

 _"Maru..."_ It said in a small and broken voice, a weak one that sounded like the whisper of an angel, a sound of purity, innocence, and yet fearful for whatever reason.  
Slowly it extended its arm towards her, its fingers almost taking a true solid form as they reached forward and gently brushed against her cheek..

 _"He's still here..."_ It's voice was captivating, something that was so surreal to hear and unimaginably clear, echoing through the halls like some sort of a god, _"We're still here..."_  
Maru's eyes widened as the ethereal being vanished before her eyes, only for what appeared to be another of it appear near the archway that her and Dynamis had entered through, as if beckoning her to follow it - it's form almost seemed to have diminished now that it was further away, like as if being in this world was weakening it little by little.  
Maru, tears hanging silently from her eyelids, slowly got to her feet with her skinned knees threatening to knock together and force her to fall down again - the blood on her knees had dried now, and they felt sore as she stood and looked down to her side.

Since when was her backpack there?.. And since when had she put her laptop in it?.. In all actuality, Maru found that she didn't really care how that happened, but just picked it up and swung it around her back as if she were supposed too.  
As she walked towards the ethereal being, her footsteps echoing in her ears just like Alcorin's had, it vanished once more, appearing farther away in a form that looked like it was slowly fading away.  
Maru stood there silently for a moment, her body feeling numb, just wanting to collapse and succumb to the darkness just as Dynamis had unwillingly, think that - for a few moments - everything really was okay.  
Not have to worry about anything anymore.. Maru's lavender eyes looked back over her shoulder, back at the corpse of Dynamis of which lay beneath the pillar in a peaceful manner, entirely lifeless yet looking like he had died a peaceful death with no regrets.  
For many moments did Maru stand in silence, a tear rolling down her face as she glanced over towards the ethereal being that she was seemingly to supposed to follow.

With a thought crossing her mind, Maru opened one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out a small piece of chalk that she carried around with her - she had no idea why she did so, but maybe this time it would actually be something useful.  
The spirit that wanted her to follow it said nothing as she hurried back over to Dynamis' body, sniffing softly as wrote something on the ground in big letters so that it would be noticeable, making sure to make it look like it was bolded and the letters were big, assuring that Dynamis's body was placed in a manner as to not disturb his eternal rest.  
By the time she was done, the chalk that she had left was half gone from what she had written, standing up from her blood-coated, aching knees and looking at what she had done.  
Maru's lavender eyes made their way to Dynamis again, a single tear falling from her eyelashes with a silent sob before she turned to follow the spirit that still awaited her, and still slowly began to fade away from weakness.  
The words Maru had written remained there, entirely and eternally present to the spirit of the Guardian of the Mist Mountain Shrine as he forever protected what he had vowed to - and even long later, perhaps months or years, when his corpse had long decayed and left nothing but a skeleton, when an old friend of his returned to the Shrine in all hopes of seeing another of his kind again, those words remained.

 _ **You(He) Didn't Suffer**_

* * *

He sat there in his room, like he was always told to.

Never leaving unless escorted, as he was too weak to make it around on his own - he could walk, but not very well.  
So he sat there, blue eyes staring off into the distance while his head was tilted to the side a bit, barely even having the strength anymore to hold it up all the time which was mainly why he was always told to stay in his room.  
He wasn't given much choice as he sat there almost lifelessly, almost not even sitting in his chair anymore as his hair surrounded him an even poured out of the sides like waterfalls.

He was unsure of why they never cut it... Why they never chopped it all off considering how much of it their was, and how much it usually got in the way.  
Though that wouldn't particularly matter, in the condition he was in.  
Yet it always allowed him some alone time to himself, being completely and utterly alone except for the voices that weakly spoke inside his head, recognizing the tiny voice that remained in the back of his mind.. He knew what he had to do - they were always there to tell him.

He blinked his eyes, the lights in his room shutting off automatically as if on cue, glancing towards either side of the room slowly before staring straight in front of him.  
His breath escaped him softly, weakly, as a screen appeared in front of him, blue eyes staring nearly aimlessly at it and yet seeing everything that it had to offer.  
Half-lidded eyes blinked softly, observing what he was seeing on the small screen before him with no fear of being seen doing so - most of them knew what he did to occupy himself in his spare time, so they would think nothing of it.. They weren't able to currently see him as it was, anyway.  
His lips parted gently at let out a soft breath that sounded like he was out of it, as if he were exhausted from just sitting there - but everyone knew why it was that way, and at this point they didn't even care about him or his condition anymore, just about 'him'.

Finding him, retrieving him, and doing to him exactly what had been done to himself. All he could do was sit, and hope that it would never happen, that they would never find 'him' - maybe that was what he was doing this for, to assure that 'he' was never found by them.  
But he knew that that was already inevitable, as they already suspected as such.. But even with the hopelessness that receded in his aching soul, he listened to the voices that often spoke in his head like old friends that he had known forever, listening to them and hearing them clearly as if they were right beside him - maybe it was all for a reason, as his eyes stared at the screen and seemed to narrow in the corners like they were imitating a cat as the irises turned a crimson red...

* * *

In Metal Bey City, the next day so far had seemed exceedingly better than the last, especially with Tsubasa and the news that they had so far completed the scan with what the blimp was able to reach of the city and that the results would soon be delivered too him once they were finished profiling.  
As of now, Hikaru had come into his office and discussed the matter of Gingka's condition as she had not been present yesterday when Zyro, Madoka, and the others had been there.

"So in other words, he's not doing so much better." Hikaru summarized after Tsubasa's brief explanation to her.  
"To summarize, yes.." Tsubasa said as he walked over to the window that was almost his wall in his office, gazing absently out at the city with his reflection only faintly blocking his view of which always happened, "I just don't know what more we can do.. I don't know if we'll be able to save Gingka or not, and I don't even know if we'll even be able to track down Alcorin.. I know Maru and Dynamis are trying, and that they're nearly convinced that there is a way to save him, but even still... We've done some crazy things in our days, but bringing back someone from the dead or the very inevitable brink of death hasn't been one of them. At least not as much as I can remember."

"Well, I guess we just have to hope for the better.." Hikaru said as she looked down to the floor slightly, "I mean, I hope they can find something.. They probably won't, but I guess we never know... The least we can do is at least try and search for Alcorin and see if we can find him, even if we don't.."  
Tsubasa breathed out slightly, feeling as if the weight of the world and everything that had happened so far was just about to pile up and come crashing down on him all at once, barely able to put together all the pieces in his mind as brushed away at his bangs, only for them to fall right back into place like they always did.  
"I guess so.." The Director agreed almost absent-minded, staring off into the sky with his golden-brown eyes as he spoke, "As long as we're still breathing - as long as _Gingka_ is still breathing - he's not going to get his way.. One way or another, we'll track him down and give him what he deserves."  
Hikaru tilted her head slightly, looking up from the ground to Tsubasa with her bluish-purple eyes.  
"And what _does_ he deserve?" She asked out of curiosity, watching as Tsubasa turned back towards her slightly and opened his mouth, seemingly about to answer before the ringing of the phone interrupted them.  
Hikaru fell silent as Tsubasa hurried over to his desk and picked it up and held it up to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked in the immortal phrase as he answered the phone, his eyes focusing on the mere edge of his desk as he listened to what the person on the other line was saying, his eyes shifting every now and then, "Yes, this is he."  
Hikaru looked at Tsubasa intently as he spoke, being quiet perhaps in hopes that she could hear what was being said by the caller - she could faintly hear mumbling and even catch a few words of what the conversation was, but that was about it.  
"Wait, what?" Tsubasa asked, barely able to believe whatever he was hearing from the person from the other side of the line, "Was she with anyone?... You're sure?.."  
Hikaru's brows knitted together in concern at seeing the look on Tsubasa's face, seemingly worried as she watched the look in his eyes morph slightly.  
"O-okay." The silverette said over the phone, a slightly worried look on his features as the conversation seemed close to it's end, "Alright, thank you... Goodbye.."

With a haunted look on his face, Tsubasa hung up the phone which seemed to ring in the silence like it would in a canyon.  
Hikaru looked at Tsubasa with concern, her bluish purple eyes watching his movements as he slowly looked up at her.  
"Someone found Maru near the Egyptian city of Sohag.." The silverette said, startling the blunette as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.  
"What?" Hikaru questioned, barely able to believe what she was hearing, "Why?.. W-was Dynamis with her?"

"No, she was alone.." Tsubasa said, looking down at the wood of his desk as even he tried to process what he had been told, "She was half starved and dehydrated, dried blood on her knees from scraping them.."  
Hikaru, with her next words, stuttered as she established all of this in her head.  
"Well, who found her?" She asked, struggling to keep her laptop in her arms as she visibly shook in the slightest bit.  
"There as a helicopter around where Maru was.." Tsubasa began to explain, "It was dark, and they weren't looking for her, but they somehow picked up a signal from laptop, which didn't have any battery left in it... How they managed that, I have absolutely no idea, but they're considering her lucky that they found her at all. She's being flown back here as we speak.."

"Well, what about Dynamis?" Hikaru asked, concern filling her voice while using one hand for gestures that were meaningless, "If he wasn't with her, then where is he?.."  
That was the moment when Tsubasa fell silent, an uncomfortable aura filling the room and radiating from Tsubasa alone - it was something that he guessed Hikaru didn't like, but at the same time it didn't really seem to bother her, at least on the outside.  
The silverette licked his lips and looked for the words, knowing what he had been told Maru had said to them and trying to figure out how he was going to explain this.  
Hikaru looked at him with worried eyes, and it was finally then when he decided to look up into those bluish-purple eyes and speak the truth of which was an all too cruel reality.

"Dynamis is dead..."


	26. Chapter 25 - So Close, And So Far

Chapter 25 - So Close, And So Far

* * *

"Maru!" Madoka exclaimed as she ran out of the doors to the B-Pit, in time to see said pinkette hope out of a car sent by the WBBA that had escorted her back to the B-Pit, the girl running up and throwing her arms around Madoka of who did the same in return.  
Maru didn't respond in her exclamation as she embraced her teacher, sobs automatically escaping her mouth as she was finally back home where she had wanted to be for so long now - and maybe she hadn't even realized it until now.  
Zyro, Shinobu, Kite and Eight had all come running out with Madoka to welcome the girl back, having been told what Tsubasa had heard and knowing that Maru was probably traumatized, especially with how young she was.  
No one said a word as Madoka and Maru hung onto each other for a few moments, tears visibly rolling down Maru's cheeks and making their way onto Madoka's jacket, though the brunette evidently could not bring herself to care about such a thing.  
"Maru..." Madoka whimpered softly as tears came to her eyes in turn, gently setting her student down on the ground as they both tried to wipe away her tears.  
"Are you okay?" The brunette asked her student as she was kneeled down to her with her hands on her shoulders - Maru could only nod as she wiped the tears from her lavender eyes, her backpack slung over back as she had had it with her when they had found her.

"I'm sorry..." The girl whimpered as she tried to wipe away the tears that came to her eyes, "Dynamis is gone and it's all my fault!..."  
Madoka gently hushed the girl, placing a gentle kiss on her small forehead and brushing her bangs out of her eyes, even though they always went right back into place.  
"It's okay, Maru.." Madoka said softly, "You're okay.." Maru sniffed and nodded slightly as she wiped her eyes, letting Madoka and the others lead her back inside the B-Pit of which she was more than glad to be back to - but even so, it didn't give her anymore comfort.  
The fact that she and Dynamis had still failed Gingka - that she had failed Gingka - was not something that comforted her soul, the fact that he was dying on the 3rd was something she wished she could just forget about, the sheer fact that his life could very well almost be over with the snap of a finger was something that now horrified her to no end.  
But even so, she said not a word as they all headed upstairs to the second floor, all of them sitting down on the couch and giving her soft hugs especially from Madoka.  
Maru sniffed again and wiped her eyes, trying to get the tears to stop falling before she felt something soft gently brush against - a couple of tissues, balled up in Madoka's hand as she simultaneously had her arm around her in means to comfort her.  
Maru took the tissues without a word and wiped her eyes with them, blowing her nose as well in the silence that was awkward between all of them.  
"Are you okay now?" Madoka asked softly, earning a soft nod from her student as she sniffed softly and wiped her tear-filled eyes.  
"What happened exactly?" Shinobu asked, trying to keep his voice soft and the atmosphere solemn as to not upset Maru in any way.  
The pinkette remained silent for a few moments, the tissues in her hands now in her lap as she looked at her bandaged knees.

They all sat in silence for several moments, everyone waiting for somebody to say something to break the uneasiness that passed over them all - after a few sniffs and wipes of the eyes from the not-so-far-off memories, Maru was finally able to speak.  
"A-after I called you.." She began, "Dynamis showed me this place in the Shrine, um.. There were inscriptions on the wall, t-that I-I don't think he even really u-understood.."  
Madoka patted her back gently as Maru sniffed and wiped her eyes again from recalling the memories from only the previous day - the pinkette then continued.  
"Um.. Y-you know that, uh.. Program on my laptop, that I u-used to visually translate things?.." Maru's lavender eyes glanced up at Madoka, who kept a soft look on her face as she gently rubbed her back.  
Maru nodded as well and then directed her gaze once more back to her bandage-covered knees, refusing to make eye contact as it only really made the memories worse.  
"Y-yeah, I used that..." Maru continued, "So that I-I could translate it into, uh... Something Dynamis could read.. And he said that there w-was a way to save Gingka but he never had to chance to t-tell me, before..."

Maru's sentence stopped abruptly, fading off into the air like simple mist that seemed nonexistent, wanting to say something and yet unable too at the same time from the sheer thought of what happened, how it had happened, how impossible it all seemed.  
Why was all of this so hard to say?...  
"Before, what?" Madoka asked gently, her slender fingers placed gently on Maru's opposite shoulder that was facing her, softly encouraging the girl to continue as they all waited to hear the rest of the story.  
No one had noticed Zyro began biting his lip hard enough for the skin to turn bleach white, almost hard enough to break the skin if he put anymore pressure on it - two bleeding lips within the time span of a week was not exactly something he was aiming towards.  
He wasn't exactly even sure he wanted to hear what Maru was trying to say, now almost afraid of the answer that lay just seconds away - wait... Afraid?

Why?

Even with his current emotions, Zyro said not a word as they all waited for Maru to continue, a rather blank look on her face as she fought for the words to come to her throat.

"A-Alcorin was there..." Maru uttered out before audible gasps suddenly broke the frightening silence, eyes widening at this sudden new information.

Alcorin had been at the Mist Mountain Shrine?

How was that even possible when they were absolutely sure he was somewhere near, or in, Metal Bey City itself?

He couldn't just be here and then suddenly be somewhere entirely different which was halfway across the world, could he?

"Alcorin?" Kite repeated under his breath, not pushing his glasses up on his nose this time of which was really unusual of him - Eight glanced up at the look on his brother's face, though said nothing about it as his eyes went back to Maru a few moments later.  
The girl just nodded, staring at her knees as she tried to continue talking.  
"H-he was there.." She said with half-lidded eyes, "I can't r-remember what he said, but.. He was holding something, and it gave me a bad feeling.. And... I can't really remember anything until I woke up, and Dynamis..."  
Maru's breath shook when she stopped talking, almost visible as if it were actually -7 degrees in the room instead of +9.  
It was then that a single tear made its way down her red cheeks, this one gently being wiped away by Madoka as she gently pulled her student into a hug, her turquoise eyes staring off into nothingness as she thought about Maru's vague explanation.  
Alcorin had been at the Mist Mountain Shrine.  
No one could get to the Mist Mountain Shrine without going through a maze first, one that she knew Gingka and Ryuto had gotten themselves lost in when they first arrived - the only way through it was with Dynamis's help, either lead by him directly or the mysterious echoing thunder of his voice from afar, as she knew happened with Gingka and Ryuto 7 years ago; it was one of the few good memories that she really had to dwell on, despite there being a lot that she could remember that could crack a smile on her chapped lips.  
But that wasn't the main concern to her right now, the main concern was: how on earth had Alcorin made it into the Mist Mountain Shrine without getting lost in the maze? And a better question... How had Maru made her way her out?

Before Madoka could even think of asking her student, Zyro stood up from his seat while biting his now raw-looking bottom lip.  
"I'm..." He began in a subdued voice that was never to suit his personality that they had grown accustomed to, "..I'm gonna go check on him.."  
Ceasing in biting his lip for a few moments, Zyro turned away, his face unnaturally pale especially with his rather tanned skin tone, and made his way up the stairs without a word, leaving them all down to 5 people.  
The shop owner let Maru pull away from the hug that they held for several minutes or so, looking the girl in the eyes from a sidelong angle and seeing that it looked like Maru was ready to speak again.  
"Maru?" Madoka asked out of concern, gently rubbing the girl's back for comfort of which she didn't seem to react to - Madoka, and the rest of them, could see the blank look in Maru's eyes, her usual cheerful demeanor now subdued into something that was to unbearable to look at, something that should not be on the face of a mere 6 year old.  
"W-when I was waiting at the airport.." Maru continued slowly, tears hanging from her long eyelashes that always made her even more adorable to Madoka, "After I c-charged my laptop.. I tried to see i-if I could go back to where I was, and translate what I translated for Dynamis into something that I-I could understand.. But when I opened up my laptop, a-all of my files were either deleted or c-corrupted, so I have nothing..."

Maru squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in her small hands, bringing her bandaged knees up to her chest and buried her face into that to hide the tears that likely streamed down her face.

"I'm sorry..." Madoka heard her student whimper as she cried silently, an instinct overcoming the woman and gently pulling Maru into an embrace that was almost motherly - the other 3 averted their eyes to allow the two this private moment.  
And in the silence that took hold, all of them were clearly able to hear the sound of the door opening and closing from down below before there was a number of footsteps that came up the stairs.  
Of the 3 that came in sight, Ren was not a surprise to see; Takanosuke was pretty understandable considering his personality; but Sakyo was the one that no expected, simply walking up the stairs in silence and standing at the top as the other 2 panted for breath from running all the way to the B-Pit.  
"We heard... What happened.." Ren panted softly, her brown eyes seeing Maru curled up in a ball next to Madoka of which relieved her greatly.  
"Where were you?" Shinobu asked as he looked at how 2 of them, being Ren and Takanosuke, were out of breath while Sakyo seemed relatively fine.  
"And why are those two with you?" Kite asked in turn, which was about to be asked by Shinobu but never got the chance.  
"I was with these 2 when Zyro called me." Ren explained as she finally regained her breath and managed to stand up straight, keeping her voice at a reasonable level as she saw that Madoka and Maru were currently having a moment, "I explained it to them, and Takanosuke kind of just dragged Sakyo along."  
Well, at least that explanation was understandable. But... She explained it to them?

"Wait, how much did you explain, exactly?" Shinobu asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, this question drawing the attention of both Madoka and Maru who had been listening despite the mutual hug. Ren glanced at them all with her brown eyes before realizing what they implied, before she shook her head with an apologetic smile as she scratched her right cheek from the irritation there.

"Oh, no I didn't tell them _everything_.." The blond said to clarify what she meant, "Just about the thing with Maru."  
Sakyo visibly opened the one eye that wasn't hidden behind his hair as he leaned against the wall, not saying a word and just standing there silently as if he were something like a mother hen watching over its young - or in his case, a dragon.  
"What do you mean, 'everything'?" Takanosuke asked as he looked at Ren with his cerulean blue eyes; the group of them all exchanged glances at this. Well, since they were apart of the team in the tournament that was working with the WBBA, they probably deserved an explanation after not knowing exactly why the tournament was cancelled.  
Either way, it would spare Zyro the pain of repeating the words that had come out of his mouth multiple times before...

* * *

Maybe he had gone upstairs to go check on Gingka, or maybe he had done it to just get away from the stress of what was all happening, Zyro didn't know.

Whatever the reason really was, he went to Gingka's room regardless, carefully opening the door and immediately hearing the weak beeps of the heart monitor that echoed softly through the dimly lit room - Gingka was, as always, there.  
He wasn't going anywhere, so Zyro was unsure of exactly why the thought even really mattered in the first place.  
Without words did the raven-redhead make his way over to the side of Gingka's bed, half-closing the door behind him as he entered and sat hunched-over on the chair beside the comatose blader, his blue eyes looking him up and down as if checking if anything had changed - of course, nothing had.  
He looked at Gingka's face, seeing the Legendary Blader weakly breathing in a frighteningly rhythmic pattern, yet going out of rhythm every now and then perhaps from his breathing getting caught in his throat or from his weak heartbeat - either way, it terrified Zyro to no end.  
Gingka's skin was pale, too pale - it may have very well been a white color, almost pure white of which was certainly unusual even for those who were dying as far as Zyro knew; everything about him almost looked like it was fading, the color of his skin as a definite, and seeming even the color of his hair from what it looked like, even though he knew that was impossible.

But Zyro wasn't entirely sure what seemed impossible and possible anyone with what had been explained to them - Dynamis, one of the 9 Legendary Bladers, was dead, leaving only the remaining 8 of which was soon to inevitably be 7.  
Zyro found himself biting his lip again, which had strangely become a habit of is every since this had happened a week ago, when everything just fell apart and didn't make a lick of sense whatsoever - the only thing that was even real at the moment, was that Gingka was dying, only they didn't know what he was dying from.  
All they knew was that Alcorin was one behind all of this, the one who had done this to Gingka in the first place, and was doing the rest to them as well as if they were nothing more but puppets to him in a play.  
He couldn't stand that thought, but at the same time he almost found that he didn't care.  
He didn't know why, but the thought that this was all just a play, just a game of where there could only be one victor, was almost comforting.  
The ginger-ravenette reached out his hand, his fingers just touching Gingka's own before they retracted themselves, knowing that it was never his place to really touch him like Madoka usually did for some sort of comfort to know that he was still there, that he was still just barely alive and yet still breathing.  
But they could always look at his face, look at the blader of which they had all known as a dear friend, and know that he was not going to wake up - that his golden-brown would never open and see the light of day ever again, that when he had closed his eyes and collapsed in that alleyway he had very well closed them for good.

It was thought that they all tried to ignore, that they all tried to think the better about - but no matter what, that shadow was always there, always reminding them that this would not bring any comfort upon them, even with the fact that Ginghka didn't have to be conscious and be in the pain that he had.  
Madoka had been right about one thing yesterday, as much as they all tried to forget about that recent memory... No matter if they found Alcorin, brought him down to his knees like he had with Gingka, he would win one way or another once Gingka's heart stopped beating.  
Zyro closed his eyes shut sharply, before a metallic taste filled his mouth and something slowly and gently dripped down his chin.  
The Fire Blader brought a hand up to his mouth and glanced down at the blood that protruded from his lip, trying to suppress the nauseating feeling that was born in the pit of his stomach as he stood up silently and left for the bathroom - he really needed to stop with biting his lip now, with 2 bleeding ones in the time span of not even a week.

And as he left Gingka's room, even though it was just a trick of his insanity that had been made out of the darkness in his consciousness, he almost could have sworn he heard the heart monitor beat one second faster...

* * *

Alcorin's ceaseless giggling was all that filled her ears as she stood there, watching as he could just barely contain himself while looking at the screens in front of him, the sound ringing throughout the half-circular room hysterically and being all that could be heard.  
If she didn't know him better, Alcorin could've very well been crying from giggling and laughing so hard out of the pure sadistic joy that he got out of watching them all helplessly hope that there was still some way, that there was still hope that they could help Gingka.  
But they - of course - couldn't, not without the help of the Guardian of the Mist Mountain Shrine of which he had left with a fractured spine and snapped neck that rendered him as good as dead.

"You're quite harsh on the girl.." She said solemnly, no real emotion or pity for the one that they knew as Maru in her voice, nor in her heart that could barely exist anymore.  
She listened as ALcorin's giggling finally began to calm down, the sound still echoing off the walls until it faded into nothingness like all echoes did, left a faint chuckling that came from the bottom of his throat before he breathed in and turned back towards his 'pet' with a look in his eyes that would strike fear into the hearts of anyone.  
"Well, if they knew how to save him, what would be the fun in letting them find me?" The dark bluenette said with a deliciously cruel tone in his voice, "Why on earth do you think I killed the Jupiter Blader in the first place?.. He looked into my eyes, and he knew - he knew everything I was, everything I am, and everything that I am after... Now, if I let Maru do her little thing and they all find out only a few of the truths that Dynamis knew, there would be no other point, but.. Either way, the truth of how to save him is something that I don't even think they could handle, for only you and me and know what the truth is, now don't we?"  
A small giggle made its way from his lips, lifting a hand to his mouth as if trying to suppress the laughter that was awaiting deep down in his throat.  
She, of course, did not answer him, but he did not need an answer.

"It's almost funny.." Alcorin said in what was almost a sweet tone, yet tinged with something that almost sounded like hate, "Everyone deems the Legendary Bladers as the most powerful bladers there's ever been.. And yet even with all that power coursing through their veins they're still human.. And the weakness with being human, is that everyone and everything dies - so _easily_ at that.. And just wait until the world knows that the Legendary Bladers have not only dropped down to 8, but soon to 7.."  
She tilted her head slightly, looking at him calmly while all the while listening to his words without even really caring about them at all - even so, she knew only loyalty towards him, so she questioned him not except for what was necessary.  
"You've taken care of one problem, which was the Jupiter Blader.." She clarified almost to herself, "What of that of others, such as the other Legendary Bladers?.. And Kira Hayama?.."  
The dark blunette let out a soft humming noise as he half-turned, the crimson orb that he usually held in his left hand appearing in his palm, the smooth surface still tainted by the crack that lined it as the core almost visibly pulsated.  
"The other Legendary Bladers don't even have any idea about Gingka's condition, nor do they know the news of Dynamis.." Alcorin said in an almost carefree tone, one that was terrifying, one that could send chills down her spine if she was able to feel the emotion of fear at all, "As long as they stay away, we'll be fine... And if they decide to show up, I'll just get rid of them like I did the Guardian.. And as for Kira Hayama.." A small chuckle made its way from his throat, "He already doomed himself when he decided to help them, so I don't even really need to do much besides messing with him and watch as he makes one the biggest mistakes of his so very young life.. As for the rest of them, I'll toy with their emotions until they break.. Besides, in the end they won't even the know or care about the difference, because they'll never see what's in front of them.."

His golden-brown eyes made their way down to the crimson orb in his palm, and saw that part of the crack that had lined the surface had seemingly mended itself, put itself back together and re-winded time like it had never happened.  
"Hmm..." He hummed softly, "Well.. Now isn't this interesting.." The same eyes that stared down at the orb in his hand made their way up to the screens in front of him, eyes narrowing at the one that they all knew as Zyro Kurogane.  
This time, there was no giggle to be heard...

* * *

Zyro had left the B-Pit and made his way to the Bey Park of which very few bladers were that day, which was unusual as the city was usually blazing with life and excitement over beyblade - but then again, nothing had been normal for the past week, everything seeming to dim once Gingka had collapsed and fallen into his coma.  
Not many people even knew about it, so he wasn't sure why it seemed like the entire world was in mourning, why everything just suddenly seemed grey.  
It shouldn't even be his place to feel this way, right?  
He had never known Gingka as well as Madoka, Tsubasa, and Benkei had, so they should obviously be more upset than he was, and he knew that they were. But for some reason, everything had come crashing down on him as well.  
The Fire Blader sat down at the same where he had been looking at the stars that day, when Gingka had come along and said ( _and lied_ ) that everything was alright, that was fine and nothing was going to happen to him.  
It was almost nostalgic to him, though he chose not to dwell on those rather recent memories as it almost everything hurt all the more.

Burying and suppressing those memories didn't do much to help the pain either; was this what it felt like when somebody you knew, whether a close friend or a distant family member, was going to die?  
He had seen people pass death like it was harmless, like it just happened and then they could all just carry on with their lives and wait for death to take them or somebody else as well - he had seen people cry and mourn because of it, have their entire life fall apart because of it, mostly from the TV shows and movies...  
But he himself had never known what it had felt like; it being so sudden was definitely one thing, but having it be dragged out, waiting agonizingly for it all to come to an end, was another..  
Sadly, they all got the worst of the two.

"And why do you look so down?" Came the voice of someone that Zyro had come to recognize fairly well, his blue eyes glancing over his shoulder to be met with only one golden one while the other was likely hidden under the eye patch that was covering it - there stood Kira, his hand on his hip an an almost feminine way that just seemed so like him now.  
"Hi, Kira.." Zyro greeted solemnly, looking away and down towards the ground as he sat at the edge of the platform.  
He heard Kira's footsteps as the multiolor-haired blader came and sat down beside him crossing his legs and looking over at him with his one eye and not bothering with the fact that his bangs got in the way slightly.  
"Please don't tell me you've gone back to weeping again.." The Bahamoote blader questioned, raising his one eyebrow slightly with a distasteful look on his face, "Because I'm honestly disgusted with the shows that some of you have been putting on lately."

"I'm not." Zyro said, glancing over at Kira with eyes that probably went against what he said from the other's expression, "Well, I'm trying not to, at least... But it might be kind of hard considering what happened.."  
Kira's expression turned into one of interest at these words, leaning forward slightly and risking almost falling off the edge to look at Zyro's face.  
"And what happened exactly?" Kira asked, "Because none of you really seem to care enough to inform me on your own, I usually have to find you."  
Kira could see the slightly anxious look on Zyro's face, as well as the cut on his lip of which was probably caused by biting it, likely out of stress from what he knew. Zyro's eyes darted from one way to another for several moments, his teeth somehow automatically going to his bottom lip again of which slightly strung - this earned him a slap upside the head from Kira.  
"Ow..." The Fire Blader complained, his teeth leaving his already injured lip and his hand going to rub the back of his head, even though it hadn't hurt as much as he had previously anticipated it would.  
"Don't bite your lip, it'll start bleeding again." Kira said irritably as he waited for an explanation, seeing the surprised look on Zyro's face and just shrugging it off out of slight annoyance.  
Did Kira actually care whether he hurt himself or not?...

"Well..." The ginger-ravenette began, this time being sure that he didn't bite his lip at all, "You know when you came to the WBBA yesterday, and you heard Maru talking.. Her and Dynamis were at the Mist Mountain Shrine, that Dynamis is the Guardian of."  
Kira's expression, although unimpressed, seemed quite curious, something that was definitely unlike him from what they all seemed, but Zyro passed it off.  
"They went to the Mist Mountain Shrine to try and find some way to save Gingka, of which Dynamis believed there was.. And apparently they did find a way, but..." Zyro hesitated.  
Kira was able to see the hesitation on Zyro's face, and simply ushered him to continue.

"But?.." Kira asked, raising his eyebrow as he looked at Zyro intently and waited for him to continue in his explanation.  
"Maru said Alcorin was there, apparently.." Kira's one eye widened at this, an almost shocked look crossing his face as he stared at Zyro and calculated the words he had just said.

Alcorin was there... Wherever the Mist Mountain Shrine was, it was apparently far, and they were here, so...  
There was no way that that psychopath could be in just 2 places at once, unless he had left one place and gone to another in that shortness of time, but that wasn't possible.

Unless... What he had suspected several times, even though the thought was impossible in every which way, was true.  
Even he had thought it was impossible when he first thought about it, but this just seemed to fuel the fire towards that answer, to convince him more and more that the impossible thought that he suspected was true.  
"She said he was there, and he was holding something.." Zyro solemnly continued, his eyes looking off into the distance as if they were dead, as if they had nothing else to see, "She said she didn't remember much after that, but she heard things, and when she woke up, Dynamis..."  
Zyro stopped again, his voice failing him as he swallowed the bile that had come up into his throat and trying to find the words that were there but refused to come out.

Why should it bother him so much to talk about this?

It was only Kira, who blatantly didn't care about Gingka's condition one bit, so why was it so hard?

"Dynamis is dead.." The Fire Blader forced out of his mouth, not seeming to gain much of a reaction from Kira except for the widening of his one eye at this news.  
"He killed him?" The multicolor-haired boy questioned, looking at Zyro intently who only nodded.  
"Yeah.." The Fire Blader answered, "I'm not entirely sure how she made it back here, but apparently she did... All I really know is that Dynamis is gone.."  
Kira made a soft humming noise as he leaned back slightly on his hands and looked up towards the partially cloudly sky, his expression not saying much to aid this action.  
"So, one Legendary Blader is dead, and another's dying.." The Bahamoote blader clarified to himself, one legged still crossed over the other as he sat there with the other blader, "Something doesn't seem right about that.."  
Zyro's eyes widened slightly and he looked over to the ex-DNA blader.  
"What do you mean?" The ginger-ravenette asked out of curiosity, still mentally reminding himself not to bite his lip of which had - for some reason - become a bit of a bad habit.  
"From what you've told me.." Kira began, "When they checked on Hagane's condition they couldn't find anything that leads to cause of what's killing him, so we don't know exactly how he's dying.. And then somehow Alcorin, or whatever his name is, shows up wherever her and him were in the blink of an eye.. Do you not deem that as strange, Zyro?"

Zyro's eyes widened slightly, catching Kira's one eye which stared back at him intently.  
the Fire Blader had actually never taken the time to consider that, think about how strange everything seemed and think that there might be a reason for it all - all of it had been weird to him, had been weird to all of them, but none of them had bothered to actually try and piece everything together, too blinded by the tears and worries of when Gingka's final breath would be, when his heart would finally stop and release him from his prolonged death; none of them had even tried, all except for Kira.  
"What are you implying, then?" Zyro asked, lowering his voice slightly as he looked the former DNA blader intently, who looked at him with just as much intensity.  
For several moments, Kira said nothing, averting his one eye for a moment as if thinking it over before looking back to the other blader of which he had long - but not so much longer - considered an enemy of his.  
"I have no idea where your thoughts lie, Zyro.. But I'll speak honestly.." The next words that Kira said were softly spoken, entirely unfitting of someone like him and unable to be heard by anyone except Zyro; not even Genjuro, of who watched the two from just across the Bey Park away from their line of view.

"I don't think he's human.."


	27. Chapter 26 - Save Me(Him)

Chapter 26 - Save Me(Him)

* * *

Tsubasa sighed as he leaned against his desk, his hands up against his forehead as if he were trying to hold it up while reading something, only he wasn't doing that as Madoka stood in the room with him on the opposite side of his desk.  
Despite the fact that they were still looking ruthlessly for Alcorin, and preparing another sideways scan of the city with the blimp's network, now he had the issue of working out the information that Madoka had just given to him involving what Maru had been through at the Mist Mountain Shrine.  
Alcorin had been there. Actually been there, halfway across the world with them and they had not the slightest idea as to how that was possible - they were absolutely certain that Alcorin was somewhere near, or in Metal Bey City itself, so how on earth had he been at the Mist Mountain Shrine? He and Madoka were both pretty sure that nobody got in or out of the Shrine without Dynamis's help, which had been clarified between them.  
But it only left them with even more questions that were all too confusing.

"This doesn't make sense.." The Director said as he brought his hands down from his forehead and in front of him on his desk, barely standing to keep still for even 5 minutes and deciding to stand up from his seat, "How could he be at the Mist Mountain Shrine when we picked up that he was somewhere around or in Metal Bey? Nobody gets in or out without Dynamis."

"I know.." Madoka said in a slightly subdued voice, "I don't get it either.. Maru said she doesn't remember anything from the time she saw him and when she woke up.. And by then, Dynamis was already dead..."  
The words choked her slightly, almost having to force them out of her throat and having them get caught on something before they came out properly, creating an uncomfortable aura within the office.  
"He obviously wasn't with them, and then he apparently just left somehow.." Tsubasa said, almost to himself, "Nobody leaves or comes without Dynamis, which also leaves the question of how Maru got out of there in the first place. Did she ever say how she left the Shrine?"  
Madoka made a soft humming noise for a moment, glancing away for a moment as she spoke.

"Well, she did.." The brunette began with a troubled expression, "But it was kind of confusing.."

* * *

 _Madoka had sat Maru down in the kitchen alone after they had finished explaining to Takanosuke and Sakyo - Takanosuke had honestly not know how to respond to the situation at all, and simply stayed silent while Sakyo hadn't seem to be effected by it at all.  
Of course, the sort-of older blader didn't have that much of a connection with Gingka, despite seeing him a few times before the tournament; Takanosuke and Gingka hadn't really known each other either, but the light-blond probably just couldn't help but feel sorry.  
"You okay, Maru?" Madoka asked gently, her voice soft as she gently sat beside her student and gently rubbed her back, of which Maru didn't entirely seem to respond to.  
"Y-yeah, Chief.." The girl said as she wiped her sleeve across her eyes once more, no tears left on her eyelashes for her to wipe away.  
Madoka simply nodded and kissed the girl on the top of her head, brushing her pink bangs out of her eyes._

 _"It's okay.." Madoka cooed to her in an almost motherly tone, "All that matters is you're home now.. I'm so proud of you.."_  
 _Maru silently let her teacher bring her into a gently embrace, her head aching from crying along with her eyes, her voice hoarse from the sobs that had been carried out of her throat from earlier - all that mattered was that she was home now, right?_

 _Right?.._

 _She was honestly confused on how Madoka could say that, with Dynamis dead and any answers that they could've had lost, this was apparently all that mattered._  
 _At least, so Madoka believed so, perhaps the others as well as they probably conversed with themselves while Zyro likely checked on Gingka every now and then of which had been become a hobby of his - or maybe he had left to be with his thoughts, she had no idea._  
 _But there was still one question that swam around in her mind, refusing to let go until she got the answer for it of which she knew that barely anybody could answer - anybody except for the girl that she called her student._  
 _She didn't wish to cause Maru to be any more upset than she already was, but she wanted the answer all the same - really, it was a win lose situation no matter choice she made._

 _"Maru..." Madoka began softly, "How_ _ **did**_ _you get out of the Mist Mountain Shrine?.." Maru was silent for several moments, gently pulling away from her teacher of which Madoka allowed her to do and sitting there silently, her lavender eyes staring down at the table as she seemed to be recalling everything in her head so that she could come up with a proper explanation._

 _"There was.. Something there..." The pinkette began, her voice monotone as if she were in some sort of trance, "I can't remember what it looked like, but... Something white.. I-it said my name, and I followed it.. I didn't really care what I had to do, or why it was there, I just.. I wanted to get out... I didn't want to be there and know that Dynamis was gone.. That he was sleeping..."_  
 _Madoka's turquoise eyes widened at this explanation, but more so at Maru's last words of which broke her heart - she knew that Maru could understand death, that people died everyday and it was something that was completely natural in life; but to hear her say that Dynamis was sleeping, sleeping for a really long time just as Gingka was going too (_ _How she hated that thought...) likely very soon, like the small child that she was that shouldn't even know what death is and just embrace life for how she saw it, was something that she was almost incapable of handling._

 _On top of that, her explanation didn't make a lick of sense either, that something had just showed up and lead her out of the Shrine somehow, something that she couldn't even identify as a he or a she apparently - what on earth was going on lately?  
Instead of asking anymore questions, Madoka simply lay a hand on Maru's shoulder, of which her student glanced at but didn't seem to react too as they both sat in the silence._

* * *

"I didn't try to pry anything else out of her, because I knew it would only upset her more.." Madoka said, ending her explanation with that and bringing her hand up to her chest, "She's gone through things that she should never have to go through in her entire life.."  
Tsubasa stood there for a moment, his hand on his chin while being supported at the elbow by his other hand, having listened intently to the brunette and her vague explanation of what Maru had said and now thinking it out.  
It didn't make sense.  
None of this did, no matter how hard they tried, none of the pieces would fit properly.  
They had the pieces, pretty all of them for all they knew, they just couldn't put them together to make a perfect puzzle.  
"Well, I guess it explains how she got out.." Tsubasa began, still thinking things over in his head, "But it doesn't explain how Alcorin got in.. But Maru said that they did find something that could save Gingka, didn't they?"  
Madoka's eyes looked up to the man and she nodded, brushing her hair behind her ear temporarily.  
"Yeah.." The brunette answered, "But Dynamis was the only one who knew it, and he know he's dead.."

"Not to mention that apparently Maru's computer was hacked into, and half of everything she had was lost.." Tsubasa did the favor of saying for the brunette so that she herself did not have to, "I don't know how Alcorin's doing all of this, but I have a bad feeling about it.. This kind of stuff hasn't happened since we were a bunch of teenagers, and even back then it wasn't this intense." Madoka sighed through her nose.  
"Tell me about it..." She said softly, "What the hell is going on?.."  
Silence fell between the two for several moments, the sound of the ticking clock all that broke it every second and piercing their thoughts yet allowing them to think with concentration - neither said a word, as if trying to simply find the answers to everything within their own minds, of which was simply impossible.  
Tsubasa tapped his arm for a moment with his finger, thinking silently while looking at his desk aimlessly.  
Sighing softly, the silverette leaned over and pressed a button on his desk that made a soft beeping noise, drawing Madoka's attention as he brought his face down fairly close to it.

"Sichiro, would you find Hikaru and tell her to get Zyro and the others at the B-Pit?" Tsubasa asked through a small microphone on the desk, releasing the button and awaiting an answer as they both stood in silence.  
"Right away, Director." Came the answer from the other side from Sichiro. Tsubasa pressed the button again and replied back.  
"Thank you." The silverette said in gratitude, before he released the button again and leaned against his desk while being supported by his hands. Madoka looked at her friend as he breathed out, seemingly exhausted from everything that had been happening lately - they all were, of course.  
They were never even given time prepare for whatever could be next around the corner in this train wreck of a week - but no matter what they would never be prepared for the inevitable that they knew was on its way...

* * *

"What do you mean?.." Zyro asked as his eyes widened, almost looking at Kira as if he were crazy but suppressing those emotions long enough for the multicolor-haired blader to explain.  
"What part of 'not human' don't you understand?" Kira asked as he brought his face away from Zyro's, seeming leaning back on his wrists and looking over at him slightly, "If you actually took time to think about it, and not sulk over Hagane, it actually makes a bit of sense."  
Zyro fell silent for a moment and he averted his gaze, staring down at the ground slightly as they still both sat there.  
That... Didn't make sense.. Alcorin wasn't human?

Despite the fact that Gingka and the others had fought an actual god 7 years prior, that thought seemed absolutely impossible.  
Yet for some reason, Zyro's mind wasn't denying it.  
The way that Kira had pointed out those facts sort of clarified a few things, and then just the suggestion of Alcorin possibly not even being human just suddenly made sense... It was the most impossible thought that he had ever really heard anybody come up, but it was also actually the only logical thing that made any of this actually make sense.  
Either way, Kira was the one who wasn't even effected by Gingka's condition, the only true sane one out of all of them - which also raised the stakes in Zyro believing that Kira just might be right.  
It was crazy, but everything else lately was crazy as well, so who said that the answer wasn't crazy?  
Zyro's blue eyes made their way back to Kira's one gold one, a slightly troubled look on his young features.

"I guess it makes sense.." The Fire Blader says while adverting his eyes slightly, "I mean, nothing else really does, so I guess you have a point."  
Kira rolled his eyes and rolled his wrist to the side, shifting his weight onto the one remaining one.  
"Probably because I'm the one who actually bothered to even think about it.." The Bahamoote blader said irritably, this time pushing himself back a bit and lifting himself up off the ground to stand, an action of which Zyro followed, "I keep telling you that if your ever going to actually confront Alcorin at all, you should at least be in your right mind.."  
The multicolor-haired blader sharply poked in the other in the forehead, a slightly solemn look on his face as Zyro rubbed the center of his forehead.  
"Ow!..." Zyro whined, rubbing the spot for a moment before looking at Kira with a slightly annoyed expression, "That hurt..."  
Kira grunted slightly and placed his hand on his hip.  
"Good.." The ex-DNA blader said, "Because when the inevitable happens, everything and everyone is going to hurt, and I will honestly not put up with that bullshit... Sulking isn't going to get you anywhere, so at least try not to cry like a baby."

"And why would you bother to care, Kira?"

Both the Ifraid and the Bahamoote bladers nearly froze at the sound of this voice, Zyro just vaguely recognizing the tone and Kira knowing it like he knew the back of his hand - both blue eyes and one gold eye turned and looked down below them, seeing Genjuro standing there with his arms crossed, chewing irritably on a dandelion stem as his blue eyes were fixated firmly on Kira.  
Silence passed between all three of them before an almost angry, yet visibly just annoyed, expression crossed Kira's features.  
"What are you doing here, Genjuro?" The leader asked sourly, "Didn't I tell all of you not to leave and wait for me, or are you hard of hearing?"

"The others aren't even around, Kira.." Genjuro said through almost gritted teeth, "But you could say that some of us were beginning to wonder about your absence over the last week.. So what exactly are you doing with Kurogane?"  
Zyro's eyes darted to Kira for a moment, only barely able to see the expression on his face, since the eye patch blocked his one eye from all view.

Great...

Now Kira was likely to blame him for all of this, and even more so was that Kira would likely be shunned away by his teammates now, all because he had decided to come and find him..  
"And why should that matter to you, Genjuro?" Kira asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, "I don't remember you ever being involved with the nice conversation that me and Zyro and apparently capable of. And I think it is quite rude to interrupt."  
Genjuro's slanted eyes narrowed at his leader, meeting Kira's one eye at both gazing at each other as if they were happening the ultimate stare-down.  
"I can't believe you'd go behind the backs of your teammates like that.." The dirty-blond spat in disgust, which didn't effect Kira's attitude.  
"None of you would have eventually even cared if you knew." Kira retorted with his hand on his hip, "What I do is my own business, I don't remember it ever being your concern."  
Genjuro glared at his leader and growled slightly, his shark-like teeth gritting themselves and breaking the stem he chewed on in half.  
"Fine.." The dirty-blond growled, half-turning away with eyes that spoke more than his words ever could, "Have it your way, Kira. Don't think we'll be forgetting this."

With a sour look on his face and a sharp glance towards Zyro, Genjuro turned and walked away, soon disappearing from their sight and leaving the two of them in silence.  
All Zyro could hear was Kira short softly as the multicolor-haired blader rolled his one eye.

"What a drama queen.." The Bahamoote blader said irritably with a small sigh.  
"Sorry, Kira.." Zyro said reluctantly, not meeting the other's one eye as he glanced over at him - Zyro knew that it was likely his fault that Genjuro and the other ex-DNA bladers would likely hate Kira for this.  
"Oh, they'll get over it.." Kira said with an irritated sigh at Zyro's change in attitude, "It might take awhile, but they'll get over it eventually." Zyro's blue eyes made their way over to meet Kira's gold one, "Either way, don't go getting all sentimental with me. Leave that with after you deal with the psychopath."  
A small smile creased Zyro's lips at Kira's semi-comforting words, even though he knew the other didn't really want to mean it like that.  
At least one of them was at least somewhat sane enough to talk some sense into the other - the other being himself.  
"Do you wanna come back to the B-Pit?" The ginger-ravenette asked out of the kindness of his young heart, "Since your teammates might not be too happy to see you right now.."  
Kira averted his eye for a moment and sighed, closing the golden orb before opening it again.

"Might as well..." He said with a slightly annoyed tone of which Zyro had sort of come to know as him expressing his appreciation of which he was not fond of doing.  
Though the Ifraid Blader did not question it as they both made their way from the Bey Park and back towards the building in question.  
There was little conversation between the two, as they barely had anything to talk about that didn't involve the matter concerning Alcorin or Gingka's condition, so they both somewhat muttered to each other about how Alcorin couldn't be human, how he kept doing all of these things that didn't make sense and how it could in fact be the only logical answer.  
It wasn't long before the two of them were walking across the street to the doors of the B-Pit, almost about to go in before the doors swung open and the rest of the group came running outside, lead by Ren who stopped them all abruptly by skidding to a halt and throwing her arms out to the side.  
Kira and Zyro both quickly backed up a few steps as this happened, supposedly to prevent some sort of accident on the sidewalk that no one would be suspecting.

"Oh, Zyro.." Ren sighed in relief, her eyes saying everything as she was glad to see him from him being gone for awhile, "Great timing.."

"What's going on?" The Fire Blader asked, glancing at them all with his eyes with slight confusion on his face.  
"Hikaru came here.." Maru said, standing beside Eight who was with his brother just behind Ren, "She said that the Director told her to come here and send us to the WBBA building.. She said she'd watch Gingka while were gone, but we don't know what else is happening."  
Zyro glanced at Ren, who simply shrugged and decided to go with it.  
"Why is he here?" Sakyo asked solemnly, his red eyes staring at Kira like daggers, though the multicolor-haired blader didn't seem intimidated by the look of the elder.

"It's..." Shinobu started, extending the sound of the 's' like a snake as his eyes drifted away to some far off place, "It's a long story..."  
At this, Kira chuckled softly with a hand on his hip, tilting his head ever so slightly nearly like a child.  
"Actually, it's quite short.." The Bahamoote blader said plainly, earning a 'look' from Shinobu of which he simply shrugged off; between the two of them, it was very normal behavior.  
Ren sighed in irritation, rolling her eyes as she forced herself not to start scratching her cheek again from how itchy it currently was.  
"Oh, come on!" She said with a sigh, an invisible aura practically dragging the others along with her as they all did as she had said - there were no further objections from anybody as they all accepted the summons that had been brought upon them for the WBBA and head towards their now sealed fate...

They had all arrived at the WBBA like they were told too, the appearance of Sakyo, Takanosuke, and Kira being a surprise to Tsubasa but he didn't question it as Madoka gave him a slightly apologetic look for not telling him about 2 of them in question - the silverette simply shrugged it off.  
"We heard you called, Director.." Maru said slightly solemnly, standing now by Madoka's side and almost seeming to cling to the woman's arm, "What for?"

"Well, it'd be as most of you would suspect.." The Director said as he crossed his arms, though still able to hold his strong posture as he stood before the younger bladers, "Nothing is getting much better with Gingka's condition, and I'm afraid that we're running out of time to save him.. The WBBA has been searching for Alcorin using our technology of the highest ranking, and so far we've found nothing; which is where the rest of you come in. Besides Maru and her attempt to find something at the Mist Mountain Shrine, we need to know if any of you have the slightest clue that could help us. Saving Gingka very well isn't up on the list anymore, but the least we could do for him is at least try and find wherever Alcorin is.. I know most of you can agree with that."  
Kira rolled his eyes slightly, knowing that the silverette likely yet indirectly meant him, as he - in all honesty - didn't really care about the outcome of it all just as long as Alcorin didn't get his way.  
Yet the Director's words caused both Zyro and Kira to glance over at each other with their eyes, as if discussing it through telepathy whether or not they should even say the impossible theory that they - or Kira - had for all of this.  
From what had happened so far, it would be understandable to assume something as such, but even so they didn't really have any proof behind it besides pointing out all the weird things that had really been happening.  
Of course, Maru couldn't back them up on it, since she hadn't seen anything of what Alcorin had done to Dynamis before he killed him, which was actually more of a good thing considering how young and fragile she tended to be at her age.

"Well, the fact that he was in 2 different places at once doesn't really help.." Said Kite as he pushed his glasses up on his nose before his arms were crossed again.  
"Well, the most that we know is that he's at least somewhere near here." Madoka reminded them all, gently holding Maru's small hand as the girl nearly clung to her, "We don't know how he ended up at the Mist Mountain Shrine, but the most that we should dwell on is within the bounds of where he know he could be."

"The WBBA hasn't found anything from borders of Metal Bey to about 3 miles from it." Tsubasa said, taking his turn in speaking, "We've almost covered that entire area, mainly just land, but so far we've come up with nothing. So the most that we know that is that he's in Metal Bey City somewhere... Or we could be entirely off, and he's further away than where we've been looking - but so far, within the city is the best thing we can narrow it down to."  
Most of it was quite confusing for Takanosuke and Sakyo, though neither of the two said anything as they knew the others understood way better than they did.  
The matter was continuously pondered upon, almost seeming to go on forever even though it had only just been a few minutes since they arrived; Ren scratched her cheek softly, of which Eight and Kite noticed, but they simply let her since it seemed to have become habit, perhaps to distract her a bit and give her something to do.  
Shinobu's green eyes glanced over at Zyro and Kira every now and then, a bitter expression on his face even though he decided it best to not express his dislike of the pastel-haired blader being there.  
So he simply remained at the back of then group, wanting to remain as far away from Kira as he possibly could without making it seem rude - it wasn't like the Bahamoote Blader would care either way.

 _"Shinobu..."_

A silent gasped left said blader's lips as something seemed to break inside his head and let something in, the sound of his name echoing in his head, his vision going blurry for a moment before coming back into focus...  
He knew this feeling from somewhere, but where?

 _"Shinobu..."_

There it was again.

The whisper of his name, spoken so softly that the gender could not be identified - something so delicate that it seemed like it would break under a small breeze.

 _"Shinobu..."_

Shinobu slowly looked around, his green eyes looking from fall to wall and around the room of which no one noticed, trying to find the source of this voice of which he failed at.  
Yet he had a feeling... Something that crept up from the pit of his stomach and into his chest, something that took hold of him and seemed to shake him into some sort of reality, as if taking control yet allowing him to still have a will of his own.

 _"Shinobu, please..."_

Shinobu looked back slightly, feeling like the voice had gotten somehow farther away and was beckoning for him to follow it.

And follow he did.

Nobody noticed him head towards the door and leave the room in their bickering; but the quick opening and closing of the sliding doors was able to catch Takanosuke's attention and make the blond turn around.  
He stood there confused for a moment, before his cerulean blue eyes glanced around as if they noticed something.  
That was the point when the Griffin Blader looked at his teammates and spoke above their solemn conversation.  
"Where did Shinobu go?" The male blond asked, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room at this sudden question.  
Several of them glanced around, seeing the full proof that Shinobu was no longer their even though they had sworn he had come in with them - he _had_ come in with them, but now he was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Eight asked out of curiosity, his eyes then going to Zyro of who walked over to the sliding doors, the two of them opening automatically at sensing his presence and opening for him - just in time to see Shinobu walking down the hall and rounding the corner.  
The Fire Blader's eyes widened as he saw the sight of his friend before he disappeared around the corner, unconsciously taking off after him.  
"Hey, Shinobu!" He called out, hearing the sounds of his friends quick footsteps as they followed him in both surprise and confusion.  
Madoka and Tsubasa both looked at each other briefly before they too hurried out the door and after the younger bladers, curious of the situation at hand while all the more weary of it - Maru still held Madoka's hand, supposedly in hopes of keeping up with them all as she shorter legs than the rest, being as young as she was.  
Yet it was mainly Zyro who lead the group, rounding several corners as well only to see Shinobu rounding the next and disappearing from view - but they somehow always got to the corners in time to see the light-haired blader just disappear from their line of view.  
Seriously, how fast could Shinobu walk anyway when they were running?

"Where's he going?" Ren asked as she panted yet kept hurrying down the halls along with the rest of her friends and acquaintances.  
"I dunno, but he really seems to want to get there.." Kite said as he ran along just behind her, all of them making their way down the halls while attracting a few startled stares from several people.  
They seemed to keep going down, as they constantly ran down stairs of which they were just able to see Shinobu heading down before he continuously disappeared from view, all of them forced to endlessly follow him as he headed off to god-knows-where.  
Kira ran into a few walls on their way after Shinobu, each time muttering something that sounded like he was cursing his eye patch since it somewhat obstructed his vision, despite being rather used to it after the long while he had had it for.  
All of them were tired from running, but they kept going, finally coming to a long hallway on the bottom floor of the WBBA building and seeing Shinobu just down the hall.  
The light-haired blader stopped walking as they managed to catch up with him, looking around as he was confused on where he was or how he had ended up here.  
The rest of them panted from exhaustion as they were able to come to a halt, though Sakyo was the one that was the most kept together even from the several minutes of running that they had done after the supposedly entranced Salamander Blader.

"S-Shinobu.." Zyro panted as he stood doubled-over with his hand on his knees, glancing up at his best friend who seemed to jump slightly and looked back at him, "What was that about?... Why did you come here?"  
Shinobu had a look on his face that seemed to say that he didn't know how he had ended up here, despite blatantly walking all the way down the building to the first floor, standing in the center of a long hallway where one wall was made up almost entirely of windows which let in a lot of light.  
"Seriously Shinobu, how fast do you walk?.." Ren panted as she tried to catch her breath, holding her side from the cramp that had managed to bloom there.  
"Sorry.." The Salamander Blader said almost halfheartedly, as if he were entirely focused on something else rather than them.  
His light green eyes wandered away from them and down the hall that was off to the side, one of the many that there was yet with a look on his face that seemed like he had heard something.  
Without words did Shinobu turn and start walking down the hall, the others glancing at each other out of confusion and silently following the light-haired blader and making sure they didn't lose him again.  
He may have seemed crazy to anyone else, but Shinobu knew very well what he was doing.

Or at least, he would like to think he did, following the small voice that guided him, echoing in his head and almost controlling his body as he slowly walked down the hall with his friends following him in their confusion.

 _"Shinobu... Please..."_

He knew what he heard, but not even he could quite place who was trying to speak to him, leading him somewhere with nothing but their voice and sheer hope that he would listen.  
And Shinobu did listen, following the voice that spoke so weakly in his head as if they were injured, crying out desperately for someone to hear them, hoping that somebody would come for them in their useless attempts to be heard.  
But Shinobu did hear them, even as he stopped walking and turned towards the wall, facing one of the many large metal panels of which was entirely blank like most of them were, seemingly pointless of even drawing his attention towards.  
"Shinobu, what are you doing?" Maru asked, of which did not manage to break the light-haired blader's trance-like state.

What was he doing exactly?

There wasn't even any reason for him to be facing the wall, what was even going on?

Why was this voice in his head leading him here?

Unless... No, that couldn't be... Could it?...

 _"Please... Save him..."_

For some reason, it didn't seem to matter to him as he subconsciously lifted his hand and placed it - palm flat - against the cold metal of the wall, almost enough to make him shiver from the small change in temperature.  
But with a small and strange shift, as if something was opened, he suddenly knew.

This was it.

It was here..

Most of them, including the Salamander Blader, jumped back in alarm when the panel on the wall moved, sliding open like a door and opening up to reveal a staircase going down a very dimly lit metal hallway that they had not even known existed.  
All of them fell frighteningly silent, Tsubasa's eyes widening as he witnessed what he had never suspected in a million years.  
"I don't remember that being there..." The silverette said as he stared in disbelief, just as the rest of them were.  
"Y-you don't think this is where..." Madoka's voice trailed off with wide eyes, looking over at Tsubasa as if telepathically discussing the rest with their minds.  
Zyro and Shinobu glanced at each other, slightly concerned looks on their faces before looking back to the staircase that lead downwards into who-knows-where.  
Nobody really thought to question how Shinobu had somehow known that this was here and able to find it, for that wasn't even on their minds at the moment with the shock of realizing what this may exactly be.  
"Your actually saying this is where Alcorin is?" Kira asked bluntly, the only one who actually got straight to the point as he looked over at the Director and Madoka.

"It would actually explain a few things.." Tsubasa said as he thought to himself for a moment, "I didn't think that he'd... Be this close to us.."  
The mention of that thought was absolutely terrifying... Alcorin had been under the WBBA the entire time? He had been _this_ close to them, and they had had no idea in the slightest?

 _"Looks like the all of you_ are _smarter than I previously anticipated."_

Everyone, at that very moment, froze entirely.  
Froze as if time itself had stopped and yet their minds were still functioning at the normal pace - they knew that voice. Well, most of them did - to any of the others it was the voice of a stranger that they didn't recognize, speaking all around them and yet from nowhere at all.

 _"Keep in mind that you have not yet won.."_ Alcorin said from within their heads, speaking to them through some unknown means that was entirely impossible, _"You're scared, and that is what makes you weak.. Just like your precious Gingka Hagane.. Who you're doing all of this for even though in the end it'll mean nothing.."_

Zyro's eyes closed tightly, his head aching intensely from the sound of the voice that spoke to all of them, all at the same time with no mercy in the pain and madness that it could cause.

His head hurt... His chest hurt... Why did everything hurt so _much_?...

 _"You can chase after me all you want.. Embrace the false hope that fills your hearts.."_

An agonizing giggle filled their ears, something that was absolutely terrifying and caused Maru's grip on Madoka's skirt to tighten, her small nails almost tearing at the fabric from the familiar voice that echoed in her ears and in her mind.  
To the rest of them it was something that sent pure chills down their spines, something that would haunt their nightmares for the rest of eternity just like it may have any others before them, something that was entirely unforgettable - and yet to Zyro, something just seemed so...

 _"Catch me if you can, Zyro..."_

Only then were all finally released from the painful grip of Alcorin's power on them, the force that kept them where they were finally letting go of them and allowing them all to breathe the air once more.  
Zyro's headache remained and caused him to fall to his knees once they were finally all able to move again, barely able to hear the worried cries of his friends as his head pounded, as almost everything in his body ached.  
Yet slowly, the pain faded away until it was nothing, still hiding somewhere in the shadows yet giving him the temporary peace that he so desired.

"Zyro.." Ren asked out of concern, kneeling down and placing her hands on either of Zyro's shoulders. The Fire Blader looked over at her with almost trembling eyes, before groaning softly and nodding, allowing her to help him up off the ground.  
"I-I'm okay.." He said in a slightly subdued voice that was laced with what remained of the pain that had previously consumed him.  
"Was that... Alcorin?" Shinobu questioned as he glanced up at the ceiling as if trying to find the source of wherever said sociopath's voice had come from.  
Madoka looked down at Maru, who stood there with her knees threatening to knock together, shivering violently as tears filled her eyes from the memory that that voice - that laugh - brought back to her.  
The woman gingerly knelt down and brought the girl close to her, picking her up in her arms even like the child she was and allowing her to whimper into her shoulder.

"He's been waiting.." Tsubasa said with a sense of dread in his voice, "He wants us to go to him.."

"You don't say.." Kira said quietly, yet was still heard by most of them.

"I'm going after him." All eyes went to Zyro at these words, startled looks on most of their faces of which Zyro answered with only determination, "If there's anybody he wants, it's me.. So I'm going after him."

"Not without us you're not, Zyro." Shinobu said, stepping forward with the ginger-ravenette, which was followed by Ren.  
"Actually thinking of facing the creep alone is crazy, Zyro." Ren said while crossing her arms, "Even for you."  
Kira sighed and rolled his eye, flicking his wrist off to the side.  
"Can we just say that most of us are going?" The pastel-haired blader asked from boredom, "Because that usually sums you all up at times like these."  
Shinobu glared over at the Bahamoote Blader, who didn't do anything in response.  
"I'm going with you, too." Madoka said as she still held Maru in her arms, a determined look on her face.  
"Madoka-" Tsubasa began, about to protest, before the brunette interrupted.

"No." The shop owner said sharply, "I want to, Tsubasa.. I want to see that bastard's face... I want to see the face of who did this.. All of this..."  
Tsubasa fell entirely silent at Madoka's words, not knowing what he should say when he saw the look in those turquoise eyes that he had known for so many years.  
All the silverette could do was nod and speak for himself.  
"I'll stay up here with Maru." The Director proclaimed, "Somebody has to make sure nobody else finds this place.. And I also doubt Maru would want to go down there with you after what happened with Dynamis."  
Madoka nodded, stroking her student's ponytail before gently kneeling down and allowing Maru to stand on her own, placing her hands on either of the pinkette's small shoulders and looking her in the eyes.  
"Maru, I want you to stay up here with Tsubasa.." The brunette told her, gently stroking her cheek with her thumb as she saw one tear make its way from her lavender eyes, "We're gonna come back, and we're gonna be fine.. Okay?"  
Maru visibly bit her lip for a moment before she simply nodded, earning a smile and a kiss on the forehead from the brunette before she stood up and ushered her over to Tsubasa.

"This got really weird, really fast.." Takanosuke said as he put a hand on his head, unsure of what to think of the entire situation that they were about to get themselves into.  
Sakyo glanced down to the blond for a moment, but said not a word to him before he solemnly looked ahead.  
"Let's go.." Zyro declared, and all of the obliged to his leadership - Maru and Tsubasa stayed where they were as they watched all of the others depart, heading down into the dim abyss of which there would be no turning back from.  
The faint sound of their footsteps was all that remained behind them as they disappeared into wherever these stairs lead, the sound soon disappearing to Tsubasa's and Maru's ears.  
The pinkette slowly reached up and took Tsubasa's hand, of which the silverette did nothing to object to as he held hers in turn - this was the only thing that they really had to hang onto now...

* * *

There was a clock that ticked, yet there was no clock at all.

He could hear the ticking in his mind, almost able to count the minutes from many times he had heard it, over and over again in the endless darkness that he sat in, eternally tortured by something that he never saw directly with his eyes.  
As much as he clung onto it, as much as he listened for those small ticks just to keep his sanity in tact, he knew that it was not a good sign.  
It wasn't time passing, oh no... It was a timer.  
A timer for something that he couldn't entirely identify, like some sort of a bomb that was just waiting to go off.  
It was ticking down to something, it had been for a long time, longer than he had been here. Yet for however long he had been here, he had absolutely no idea.

It felt like an eternity, years upon years of the presence that dwell around him, something creeping up behind him and reaching around, touching him softly and yet with what felt like a strong intensity that was nearly impossible to manage by sheer human touch.  
But this was no human touch... Not exactly.  
He didn't know who or what it was, he never saw it directly with his own eyes that stared into nothing but darkness so think that he could barely see himself. But he could see it there - just very dimly, but he knew it was there.  
He had seen small parts of it, not something that was entirely whole, but parts of it... And it horrified him from the feeling that it gave him, something that delved down into the depths of his soul and fought to bring up something, reawaken a being inside that had been there for all of eternity, waiting and waiting for so long to finally be set free upon the physical world.  
But he knew, from the ticking of the clock around him, that neither would be in the physical world for long. Now they were both trapped here, one torturing the other, perhaps even torturing each other with the begging and pleading, the laughing and touching.

It was a feeling that he had felt before, somewhere before that he could not remember, or did not wish to remember - yet the feeling of when it touched it, something that tried to force him to remember something, tear into the depths of his memory and bring up something that was hidden deep down in the cracks.  
It burned, everything burned.  
And the ticking of the unseen clock was all that he had to keep himself sane, to know that there was still something from the physical world that still existed inside his mind.  
Something that was real, something that connected him to a world that he could currently not be apart of.  
Yet in this world, one that he would perhaps be forever condemned to, he may have been the only real thing that existed, the only real thing that was there.  
But there was something else there, something he could hear, hear the footsteps of, hear the breathing of, feel the touch of.  
It was something that terrified him.  
Haunted him as it whispered in his ear in a voice that sounded so like a stranger, and yet so familiar all the same.

And he heard it, creeping up behind him as he was unable to move his legs to get away from where he was, chained by something that he couldn't see, in the chains that had likely held everything that he had tried to escape from, pinning down his wings as that he would be unable to fly away, and forever be at its mercy.  
He felt its presence as it came up behind him, its hands slowly reaching around and brushing against his back and shoulders.  
A hard shiver ripped down his spine, one that he was unable to suppress as he felt the chill of its hands drag along his shoulders and then to his neck, its skin as cold as ice as he touched him so slowly, so delicately - and he hated it.

 **"Now do you know how it feels?..."** Came the voice that he couldn't recognize, yet sounded like that of an old friend, one that he knew so well and yet couldn't place no matter how hard he tried, **"We don't live to be pinned down.. We don't exist for nothing.."**  
His entire body tensed like a rock as he saw fingers, as white as snow, reach around and place themselves on his face, one around his mouth, and one covering one of his eyes, a touch that was so terrifying, with an intensity flowing from them that somehow felt so familiar, something so natural that he almost wanted to stay there, but he wanted to get away at the same time.  
Yet he was unable to escape the grasp of the being that knelt behind him, taking hold of the one thing that existed besides itself - him.  
 **"You were so weak..."** It spoke in a voice that was so tender, so gentle, so delicate, and yet so terrifying, **"We warned you once before... We existed before you... We were first.. You were never anything without us... But we are everything without** ** _you_** **.."**  
White fingers slowly dragged off of his face, skin smooth as glass and yet with something that just didn't feel normal, didn't feel human because it wasn't human.  
Yet it inflicted only terror upon him, terror of knowing that it could do something at any moment, that it could take him in its hands and crumble him down into nothing.  
Out of the fear that had built up in him from the very beginning, of the guilt that flooded through him and pinned him down, of the hope that there was still something that could free him from the darkness that he was condemned to, his scream was the only thing that filled his own head.  
Yet the ticking of the unseen clock went on for what felt like forever.

 _Zyro.. Please... Save me..._


	28. Chapter 27 - My Domain

Chapter 27 - My Domain

* * *

Hikaru set her tea down on the table after taking a brief sip, finding it still a bit too hot even after a blowing on it and giving it a few minutes to cool down.  
She had, of course, offered to watch Gingka while the others headed to the WBBA, knowing full well that they always had someone stay behind to watch the redhead whenever they went somewhere so that they could monitor his condition in case he started to get unstable.  
It was eerily quiet in the B-Pit now, free of the sound of dense chatter between any of the younger bladers and Madoka that usually was around since the beginning of the week.  
Before all of this, the group of them were able to talk without awkwardness, able to look at each without looking away with the troubles of the world weighing them down, able to sit still as they discussed their excitement about the tournament - it had only been a week, and everything had just suddenly fallen apart, fading into the wind as nothing more than an old memory, shattered like a mirror that you treasured with all of your heart.  
Maybe, just maybe, things could go back to the way they had once been before all of this, but the damage that Alcorin had inflicted would forever be done.  
It was almost like a glass, as well as she could see.  
It can break, and it was possible to be put back together, but there would always be cracks.

Nothing was ever going to be the same after all of this, and Hikaru knew it all too well.  
Only faintly could she hear the sound of the heart monitor from Gingka's room down the hall, having to strain her ears a bit to hear it and be able to count in her head how many seconds apart the beeps were - around 6 seconds, from what she could manage. It was all only a matter of time, and she knew that very well.  
The blunette took the handle of her teacup again and sipped the liquid gently, thankful that it had calmed down a bit and was now drinkable for her.  
This day... It might all end, for all they knew.  
Today could ( _would?.._ ) be the day that everything just ended in the blink of an eye, that everything came to a close and Gingka finally flat-lined, being released from the suffering that he had been condemned to from the very beginning.  
Hikaru's eyes were blank as she sipped her tea, staring at nothing with bluish purple orbs almost free of emotion - yet at the same time, maybe it was just the fact that everything would soon come to an end...

The 9 of them all darted down the stairs, traveling almost in single file as they headed towards the fate that awaited them, seeing light ahead of them in the dim staircase of which they had to be slightly cautious when going down.  
Only after a few minutes - as it seemed - did they finally reach the bottom of the staircase, the sounds of their footsteps echoing on the metal flooring as they all came into a long metal-plated corridor, entirely lit normally much like the WBBA building itself. Seeing as how the corridor turned off somewhere, it was impossible for them to be able to tell how long it was, or where it would lead them for sure.  
"This seems easier than I thought it would..." Ren said with a weary tone in her voice.  
"From being at the DNA, I've learned these halls always lead somewhere.." Kira said, glancing over at Ren with his one eye, "And it's _never_ as easy as you think it is.."

"Well, we've seen that for ourselves.." Shinobu reminded them, referencing back when they had gone to (at first unknowingly) rescue Gingka from the DNA.  
"From what we know of Alcorin, he wouldn't just let us walk in here without something up his sleeve.." Madoka said as most of they stared cautiously down the hall, "From the things he's done, I wouldn't imagine what he'd do to us.."  
Zyro glanced down at the floor for a moment before half-turning to his friends and teammates.  
"We've made it this far, haven't we?" He asked, "Even if he has something planned for us, we promised Gingka that we'd at least do this for him."  
At these words, Kite pushed up his glasses, the lens catching the reflection of the light for a moment as he looked up.  
"We're with you all the way, Zyro." The spiky-haired brunette said with confidence, which was mimicked by his little brother with a nod.

"Yeah, let's show this guy who's boss!" Takanosuke exclaimed optimistically, which did manage to enlighten most of their spirits and give a more confident outlook on the situation.  
Sakyo simply grunted and flicked his head over to the side a bit, his hair covering his one eye bouncing slightly along with the movement as if it were his way of agreeing with his one friend - of course, Takanosuke had grown to know what the gesture could mean.  
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Ren questioned, determination plain on her face, "Let's go!"  
All of them were happy to oblige to this thought before the group took off running down the hall, determination centering between them all and filling them with new hope that they had long since forgotten, flooding their their veins and making them realize that they could settle this once and for all, take down and Alcorin and get back at him for all that he had ever done to them, and Gingka.  
Kira might not have felt the same feelings as most of them did, but he was just as eager to get to the psychopath and make him pay for all that he had ever done.  
Alcorin was using them as nothing more than puppets in a little stage show that he himself had created, pulling them along like useless objects and treating them all as such - he would have absolutely none of it.  
The only reason that he was even here right now, helping them all with this seemingly hopeless task was for that reason, and that reason only; except for the fact that he wasn't done returning Zyro's favor to him, but he'd be damned if he ever admitted that he cared in the slightest bit of what happened to the Fire Blader.  
Well... At least they weren't that bad of people to work with in these type of situations, seeing as how he had been on the other side of them himself...

* * *

Both Tsubasa and Maru had gone up to one of the upper floors after the others had gone down into the passageway that they had found, the Director making sure that no one enter that hallway due to 'renovations', which had been the best excuse that he could come up with in his slightly dumbfounded state. Maru couldn't help but sympathize.  
She knew that Tsubasa couldn't feel the same emotions towards Alcorin as she did - fear, terror, anxiousness - and that she didn't feel the same emotions towards him as he did - anger, hate, disgust - but even so, she found that she didn't care.  
In all actuality, the feelings they all had towards the psychopath were one and the same.  
Either way, neither of them were taking the discovery of Alcorin's location very well - specifically not Tsubasa.  
The silvernette sat there, his fingers together in front of him as he stared aimlessly at the table.  
How could he have been so utterly blind? How had he not been able to know that Alcorin was within the WBBA building itself, how was he not able to pick up on that.  
It made a fair bit of sense, but... He felt like a failure for not being able to pick up on that.

He had walked down that hallway countless times, had looked at the wall for as long as he could remember, wandered down it with several of the workers in the building, and he had never known.. Of course, nobody would able to guess such a thing, that that psychopath was not only in the city but that they were right above him.  
They had basically been walking on his roof, and they hadn't known anything about it.  
It was... A really terrifying thought to think that he was so close to them, to all of them - they had been, and were, in the same building as him, and they hadn't the slightest clue beforehand.  
From what they knew he could do, he could've done just about anything to them at any given moment. Of all the things that Tsubasa had ever been ashamed of, this was the thing that shamed him most.  
He knew that he shouldn't feel that way, as nobody could have ever guessed that Alcorin's location could've been so close to them, but it was just something that weighed down on his shoulders.  
Even so, he knew he shouldn't be that way around Maru, considering how fearful she was at this moment. He didn't know what was going through her head, but all he could see from the anxious look in her eyes was that she was scared.  
Scared not just for herself, not just for Gingka, but for the others that had gone down to the face the freak.  
She had seen - or partially heard - what Alcorin could do to people. He had killed Dynamis with his own bare hands as it had seemed, so there was no telling what he could do to Zyro, Madoka, and the others... He could very well take their lives in cold blood as he had taken Dynamis's.

"How are you holding up, Maru?" Tsubasa asked out of concern for the much younger of them both, catching Maru's attention and causing the girl to look up with only her lavender eyes - it honestly made her look like a lost puppy.  
"I'm okay..." The girl said plainly, something that was definitely unlike what they all usually knew of her.  
She was usually more upbeat, uplifting, able to hold her head high with pride; all of that had been subdued into silence. Tsubasa wasn't fooled by the answer that she gave.  
"They're gonna be okay, Maru.." The silverette hopelessly reassured, a gentle light making their way to his eyes of which Maru was able to see, "Nothing bad is going to happen.. They're going to find Alcorin and take him down.."

"I-I know..." The pinkette stuttered out, her bottom lip quivering a bit as she tried to force it not to, "B-but Chief w-w-went with them... A-all of them w-went... A-a-and all of them, could.."

"Maru.." Tsubasa said softly, "They'll be okay... All of them. Dynamis might be gone, but he's not going to hurt Madoka, Zyro, or anyone else." Maru stayed silent for a moment, biting the inside of her lip as she listened to Tsubasa's words.  
"What about Gingka, though?.."  
It was at this that Tsubasa was at a loss of words.  
He had dealt with situations similar to this before, having been in meetings with other people that had nearly backed him into a corner, had nearly pulled the reigns and controlled him to their will - yet the silverette usually always managed to come out on top and able to turn the situation around.  
But those times had always been under much different circumstances.  
Now, Tsubasa had no idea what to say. He could comfort Maru all he wanted, he could convince her that nothing bad was going to happen to her teacher or to her friends - but he could never reassure her that Gingka would be okay.

Gingka was not going to be okay.

They all knew that perfectly well, and they had reluctantly accepted it. Maru, a six year old girl that was possibly distantly related to the woman that he had known as an old friend, had all but backed him into the corner that he dreaded.  
Considering her age, Tsubasa had no idea how to be just direct with her, and he had no idea how to slip past the question either.  
Yet once he looked back at her, Maru seemed to understand simply from the look in his eyes, and lowered her head onto her arms on the table, her lavender eyes half-lidded in a mundane way as if she was simply tired on the final period of school.

"..I don't know.." Tsubasa said like a whisper, the words ghosting off of his lips and fading away into the air. Whether Maru ever heard his words, he had no idea - even if she had, she showed no sign of it...

* * *

Their footsteps all echoed in the metal halls around them as they ran down the halls of the newly found area of the WBBA building, all of them able to feel the adrenaline rushing through them as they hurried towards their destination.  
They found themselves making several twists and turns that seemed to go on forever, which as all almost brought to an end as they unexpectedly turned to face a medium-sized flight of stairs that visibly lead down further into whoever's domain they had walked into.  
"Geez, does he like his hallways, or what?.." Ren questioned bitterly after reaching forward with Kite and preventing Eight from going tumbling down the stairs from finding them so suddenly.  
"Apparently.." Madoka said, staring down the stairs as if they were some sort of alien object before looking over in unison at Zyro, of who gave a quiet nod before the brunette decided to take a bit of authority herself, "Let's go.."  
The brunette was the first to start heading down the stairs, of which was closely followed by the rest of them. Kira was the one who glanced around slightly with the visual line of sight that his one eye could reach, a slightly wary feeling coming to him as they all began to walk down the stairs - he knew that feeling wasn't a good one, of course.  
He only understood why when a sound reached their ears from above, half of them whipping around in alarm just in time to see the wall close behind them at the top of the stairs, the edge of it almost catching the end of Sakyo's coat if he hadn't turned at the moment he had.  
The sound echoed for several moments, sounding off of the metal walls, ceiling, and floor as if they were in some sort of canyon before they slowly faded.

"You've gotta be kidding me.." Shinobu said, being the first one to break the silence that had passed between them all at this unexpected event that had taken place.  
"Well, looks like he _really_ doesn't want us to go back.." Kira commented bluntly, which didn't help much with their shock.  
"Well, that and we're trapped here.." Takanosuke added, "Which really isn't a good feeling.." Zyro was, at this moment, the one who fought to keep it together, trying not to focus on the fact that they were now closed into a place that they had willingly walked into and instead focusing on his own soft breathing, blocking everything else out and listening only to that sound.  
No... He would _not_ let his claustrophobia catch up with him, not now.  
The only benefit there was was that the walls were spaced well apart from each other, and the ceiling was relatively high so that it didn't feel like it was crushing down on him.  
None of the others were able to feel the anxiety that welled up in his chest, as they - of course - were not connected to him by any means that they would be able to feel exactly what he felt.  
All he simply did was stand there while they all remained slightly frazzled by what had happened. Ren, who had been well at the front of the group, looked at the closed off passageway with a slightly troubled expression, her blond eyebrows knitting together as she felt a sudden itch in her right cheek of which she instinctively went to scratch.  
It had repeatedly been like this for weeks now, but it didn't bother her for some reason of why she kept doing so - it was just...

 ** _"Ren."_**

All at once, something seemed to pulsate inside her head, as if something had been planted then and then just now decided to sprout.  
That voice... She knew that voice.. No, she didn't.. She...

 _ **"Ren.."**_

The feeling pulsated through her once more, flowing through every aspect of her body and even to the ends of her hair, taking hold of her and expanding around her, feeling suddenly light as a feather as everything in front of her seemed to blur.

 _ **"Ren.. Hear me.."**_

She heard it.. She heard him..

No, she had to fight this, she knew she had too!

But something came in and forced back that will, tore it apart into pieces and left her entirely defenseless against whatever sought to invade her mind.  
Her cheek hurt - it didn't just sting or itch anymore, it hurt..

She could see something.. Something in front of there, like a mere apparition..

Their face was shadowed, almost everything was entirely consumed in darkness.. Except for the eyes.  
Eyes of golden-brown that she visibly witnessed turn a crimson red, no light reflecting in them at all in something that seemed so surreal, so unimaginable that she was unable to tear her eyes away.

 _ **"Destroy them..."**_

No.. No..

 _ **"Destroy them..."**_

No.. She.. She..

 _ **"DESTROY THEM."**_ Crimson eyes that pulsated and glowed a bright red were all that sealed the deal.  
Then there was nothing.

"We should keep moving." Sakyo stated in a gruff tone, looking away from the wall and back towards the others, "There's nothing much more we can do than that."  
Madoka, briefly being able to make eye contact with the younger before nodding her head in agreement.  
"Yeah.." Was all that she said as she looked around at the younger bladers to make sure that they were all in agreement to go on, since there was no other option but to. She got simple nods from all of them, except...  
"Wait, where's Ren?" The brunette questioned with a confused look on her face, her brows knitting together as she noted the sudden absence of the Phoenix Blader.  
"Oh, not this again.." Kira breathed with an annoyed sigh of irritation, of which earned him another 'look from Shinobu near the front of the group of what was now 8.  
"Do you think she went on ahead?" Kite asked, equally as confused by the situation that had suddenly arisen.  
"I don't know, but we have to find her." Zyro said as he glanced slightly uneasily down the hall that they were supposed to be heading down, noting that it turned the corner to another hall not 20 feet after it started, "At this rate, Alcorin could do anything.. And if Ren wandered off ahead, I really don't wanna know what he'd do to her."  
They were all able to see the logic in that. They weren't entirely certain of all that Alcorin was capable of, but they knew from Maru that he had killed Dynamis with his own hands - how, they didn't know, but they did know that he was far more dangerous than they had originally anticipated, and from Kira and Zyro knew for themselves and only themselves, there was likely a good explanation behind it.  
They all decided to waste no time in hurrying down the stairs and running down the halls of which they were lead into, knowing that there was no way out the moment they had decided to walk into what was Alcorin's domain, despite being connected to the WBBA headquarters.

The only thing that echoed in their ears were the sounds of their footsteps on metal, the only thing that filled most of their heads was the task of finding Ren.  
Where had she even gone when she had been there with them no more than a few moments ago?

How had they not heard her leave?

How far had she even gotten away from them in the little time she had been gone?

Those questions were never answered as long as they kept running, hurrying down the many halls that were all they had to go on for what felt like an eternity considering the situation that they had - yet they were all forced to come to a screeching halt as they found themselves looking at 2 hallways that curved the same way, yet likely lead to different areas.  
"He really likes his little games.." Kira said as he put his hand on his hip, "So Zyro.. What do you have in mind for a plan?"  
Zyro swallowed the lump in his throat when Kira said his name, now being given something else to focus on rather than just the fact of Ren being somewhere down one of these halls ahead and that his claustrophobia was starting to kick in.  
"Split up." He said automatically, the idea coming to his mind almost upon instinct, "4 down each hall."  
The rest of thme abided by his leadership and did as he said, splitting up into groups of four though some of them were reluctant with the people they were chosen to be be with before they decided that they didn't care.  
Sakyo, Takanosuke, Shinobu, and Madoka decided to go down the hall on the left while Zyro, Kira, Kite, and Eight did the exact opposite hall - nobody asked any questions as they hall ran off into their separate halls, the only thing on their minds being the thought of finding Ren and making sure she was okay...

* * *

A quiet chuckle filled the usually darkened room, the screens having been turned off and leaving the psychopath in total darkness of which he had grown accustomed to for quite a long time.  
He had no need to watch them as it currently was.  
He knew they were there, he knew perfectly well - and Alcorin knew that they knew that they had walked into the one place that they weren't safe from him. Of course, they were never really safe from him.  
He had been playing them the entire time, pulled the strings in this little show as he remained the puppet master, controlling them all to his will and making them do what was basically his own bidding.  
In all actuality, this was nothing more than a game; a game that he and.. Another.. Had created out of their own wills, forced them into and controlled to their very whim like they were nothing more than the pieces on a chessboard.

That was all they were.

They were this close to him... He knew what they were after, and he would not allow it.

Nobody would take 'him' away.

Never again, would he ever lose 'him'.

Alcorin cared about nobody but himself, able to see nothing more than that in the mirror that he had stared into eternally of which he had known as eyes - yet there was still a shred of him, a part of him that remained in his shadow that made him care, made him feel some sort of emotion that he had thought never to exist in his being of which had been created by something not of this world and something that was.  
They were absolutely nothing compared to what he was - and he had made sure that they would not be able to stop him.  
After all... They were in his domain now. And everyone knew that you don't walk into the domain of someone - something - like him...

* * *

Zyro, Kira, Kite, and Eight all ran down the hall that they had selected, their legs automatically carrying them as they knew that they had something to do, something to accomplish.  
Alcorin was _not_ going to hurt Ren like he had hurt Gingka, and especially not do to her whatever he had really done to Dynamis.  
Zyro had to force himself to push that thought out of his mind as they kept going on what seemed like a curve, coming to a flight of stairs of which they had no problem going down and kept running.  
Eight struggled to keep up, considering that he was much smaller than the rest of them with shorter legs - but his big brother made sure that he didn't fall behind as they all hurried down the hall, unexpectedly all coming to a sudden halt by Zyro, who had Kira behind him, who in turn had Kite and Eight behind him.  
"Ren?.." Zyro spoke, his voice echoing softly all of the metal walls as they all looked forward down the hall to see someone with their back turned to them... Blond hair, black and pink coat, their size...

"Ren!" The small group of them hurried further down the hallway, their footsteps able to reach the blond's ears well as they came ever closer before she turned around swiftly and raised her launcher, her stance wide and seemingly ready for battle.  
Out of their confusion and shock, the 4 of them all stopped in their tracks as they looked at their friend, their friend that they had known for a long time, poise for the attack on them.  
"Ren?.." Kite questioned in a confused tone, his blue eyes narrowing in the slightest bit towards his friend, "What are you doing?"  
Ren did not answer the brunette.  
She simply stood there, entirely entranced with blank brown eyes that they had never seen before in her - she seemed pale, entirely gone except for her body and whatever just automatically made it do the actions that it always did, as if on instinct to just battle them.  
But it was more than just that.. It wasn't to hard to see, especially from the light flickering that came from behind her, a figure slowly making itself out before taking on a realistically solid form..

"Why, she's doing exactly what it looks like she's doing, dear child.." Spoke a voice that was something far different from anything they had ever heard, something as sweet and soft like the tiny 'mew' of a kitten and with a ferocity that came from the bellows of the chest of lions.  
The eyes of the 4 widened at who they saw, flickering lightly around the edges that proved the Alcorin that they saw beside Ren was nothing more than a hologram.  
Of course, they had a hard time recognizing him at first since none of them had truly seen his appearance before now, but his voice was all that it took for them to be spot on with who he was.

"What did you do to her?" Zyro demanded, narrowing his eyes at the hologram that he was looking at, at which only gave a small smile that could've been so sweet at one time but now only inflicted nightmares.  
"There's quite an easy answer to that, Zyro Kurogane.." Alcorin spoke with a slight buzz behind his voice from the slight flickering of the frighteningly realistic solid hologram that he took the form of, "Of course, considering how most of you are, you'd find it quite hard to believe.."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Kira retorted, his one golden eye glaring silent daggers into the man that they knew wasn't truly right before them.  
"Well, you didn't _really_ think she'd been scratching her cheek for no reason, now did you?" Alcorin asked softly, a giggle making its way from his holographic lips that - despite not being there - still made them shiver to the core, "Honestly.. She was at it for weeks, and none of you thought of it as anything serious... Your gullibility made it surprisingly easy to slip it past you she was under my influence the whole time."  
Zyro's breath caught in his throat.

Under his influence?

What did Alcorin mean by 'under his influence'?

They had seen Ren scratching at her right cheek for a couple of weeks now, but they never thought it would be something that serious that they needed to worry about..

"Well, I suppose not the _whole_ time.." Alcorin said, seeming to almost catch himself on his words as he spoke, a casual sense about it that was truly frightening, "Of course, she was sort of in a.. What's the word?... Triggered state. She wasn't under my control until now, but it was there.. Like a bomb waiting to go off, just waiting for the right moment. Quite like Gingka's condition, am I right, Zyro?"  
Zyro breathed out shakily for a moment, biting the inside of his lip of which Kira saw him doing though said nothing about it.  
"Why would you do this to her?.." Zyro growled softly, with earned another little childish giggle from the psychopath, something that sent chills through them.  
"Because, Zyro." Alcorin replied, his golden-brown eyes that seemed somewhat familiar - familiar? - having a crazed look behind them, "You promised little Gingka that you'd do anything to try and save him no matter the circumstances.. Let's test that, shall we?"  
With no further words did Alcorin's hologram flicker and disappear, leaving them all alone with the Ren that he had apparent influence over.  
This was the point where they all stood there in tension, things flooding through their minds as they saw the situation before them and that Ren was not going to back out of what Alcorin was making her do.  
Just who _was_ this guy?..  
Zyro, closing his eyes tightly for a brief moment, opened them again before swiftly pulling out his launcher and Ifraid, and attaching them to each other, getting into a stance that mimicked Ren's.

"Zyro, what are you doing?" Kite questioned, a slightly confused look on his face as he watched Zyro's actions.  
All Zyro could do was glance back at the eldest Unabara brother with a half-determined, and half-wary face.

"Alcorin wants us to face her.." The Fire Blader told him, "It's the only option that we have right now.. And it could be the only way to get her back."  
Kite said nothing for a moment, studying Zyro's face and seeing the uncertainty that lined the borders of his blue eyes before simply nodding and pulling out his Bey and launcher as well.  
"I'll help!" Eight said, mimicking his brother's action.  
"Unless you want me to absolutely destroy her on accident, you might want to count me out.." Kira advised as he glanced over at Zyro, who simply nodded as he saw the look in Kira's one eye.  
Though it wasn't ever really necessary with Ren, Kira could provide somehow with that 'eye-patch' of his, as he had done so in a battle with Shinobu - it wasn't necessary with Ren, but this was her under Alcorin's influence.  
And they knew he always had something up his sleeve.

"3!" Zyro began, readying his launcher which was followed the Unabara brothers.

"2!" Kite countered, his eyes locked on Ren of who said not a word.

"1!" Eight exclaimed, his hands shaking slightly but refusing to falter.

"Let it rip!" The immortal cry was unleashed as they all launched their Beys, Ren's movements slick and graceful, almost effortless yet with power that she didn't show on her expressionless face.

"Ifraid!"

"Revizer!"

"Orochi!"

"Phoenix!.." Ren's call of her Bey's name was hallow, emotionless, calm.  
It was something that was so unlike her even as her Bey Aura glowed around her, tainted by a crimson red of which likely came from Alcorin as he played with her like a puppet on its strings.  
Zyro breathed out sharply at that sound, using all the willpower that he had in him to keep it together as Ifraid, Revizer, and Orochi all spun next to each other before attacking of their Bladers' commands, racing forwards towards Thief Phoenix of stayed in place for whatever reason.  
All watched carefully as Ren made not a movement, her blank brown eyes, free of all emotion, having a menacing aura inside of them that came from Alcorin, likely injecting parts of his power onto her just to make them suffer.  
Instead of speaking, Ren lifted her arm and swung it out gracefully, effortlessly like she was in some sort of dream-like trance.  
Basically, she was.  
Either way, Phoenix obeyed to its master's orders and sped forwards, seeming to be heading for all 3 Beys at once before it made a sharp curve and slammed into Orochi, knocking said Bey back a few feet to Eight before Phoenix went after both Revizer and Ifraid.  
Zyro narrowed his eyes slightly, biting the inside of his lip for a moment before he reluctantly threw out his hand.

"Dodge it, Ifraid!"

"Revizer!"

Ren was, of course, not phased by their actions as she silently controlled her Bey with her power, while all the while she herself was the one under someone else's control.  
Kira watched from the side, studying Ren's expression as well as her movements, and the patterns of her Bey..  
How Alcorin had been able to take control of Ren's mind, control her entirely without a will of her own and make her into his puppet, he had no idea - but the thought of Alcorin being anything but human left a possibility open that in some way it was possible.

"Phoenix!" Ren's cry out to her Bey, despite still having that slight spark that fueled her Blader's Spirit, was still cold and emotionless, devoid of anything that said she truly cared about this fight at all.  
Of course, she didn't.  
As it currently stood, her mind and body belonged to Alcorin now. Either way, despite possibly knowing that its master was not genuinely controlling it, Phoenix responded to Ren's orders, "Destroy them!"  
A loud screech filled their ears as the face bolt on Ren's Bey pulsated and glowed a bright red, the tainted aura of its master bleeding into itself and racing forward at amazing speed like that of a bird in a dive.  
The bey that raced towards the other 3 pulsated entirely bright red mixed with the orange that still naturally came with it, Ren's face expressionless as thrust out her hand with grace.

"Ifraid!"

"Revizer!"

"Orochi!" Ifraid and Revizer were the first Beys to react, racing out of the way while Orochi came all too late.

Without even a second thought did Phoenix clash fiercely with the Water Bey, power surging through the attack and violently throwing both Orochi and Eight.

"Eight!" Kite cried out in alarm, turning swiftly around at the waist as he saw his brother slam against the wall, the flat of his head being the first thing to make contact and eliciting a sharp yelp from the boy before he collapsed to the floor.  
Kite's eyes widened in horror before he instinctively left the battle with Revizer still spinning, hurrying over to his little brother as instinct took hold.  
"Eight!.." Kite gasped as he knelt down to the small bluenette, gathering him up in his arms and cradling him softly.  
"Eight.." The brunette repeated, his breathing rapid as he looked at his little brother's unconscious face.  
Zyro was the one that glanced back in worry as he looked at the two Unabara brothers, now the only one left to face Ren while Kite tended to his brother.

"Ifraid!" He called out, narrowing his eyes as he stared into Ren's emotionless eyes that he had seen with light just minutes ago, unable to see the girl that he knew anymore behind Alcorin's power.  
Kite, on the other hand, gently lay his brother down on the ground, placing his ear against his chest where his heart was and listened closely, blocking out the sound of Bey's clashing from not to far away.  
The brunette let out a shuddered breath of relief as he heard Eight's still beating heart, tears almost coming to his eyes as he was able to see the bluenette's small chest rising and falling at a normal pace.

He was alright..

Forcing down the tears that came to his eyes, Kite gently moved his brother into a sitting position where he leaned against the wall, making sure that he would be comfortable in such a position before he stood up.  
"Phoenix!.." Ren called out calmly, her voice hallow as a loud screeching sound was heard from all around them once again, the face bolt of her Bey glowing from its master's call.  
Kira's eyes went from the blond to the ginger-ravenette, of who's bottom lip was visibly trembling in the slightest bit as he likely bit the inside of it.  
The pastel-haired blader narrowed his eye at the other of which he knew Zyro couldn't likely see - he swore, if he was going to breakdown right then and there he was going too...

"Zyro."

Zyro froze at the voice from behind him, turning around at the waist and seeing Kite slowly walking up beside him, the light reflecting off of his glasses and making it impossible to see his eyes at all.  
Zyro said nothing as the Revizer Blader stood half in front of him, a cold aura dripping off of him as he seemingly stared directly across the hallway to Ren who could only stand and stare back.

"Go." Was all that the brunette said, earning a soft gasp from Zyro at his tone in voice.

"What-"

"I said, go." Kite repeated, looking over his shoulder towards one of his dear friends, "You and Kira go on ahead and meet back up with the others.. I'll handle Ren."  
Zyro was about to protest before his words got caught in his throat.  
He fell silent, seeing Kite's determined eyes through his glasses - he knew that Kite, a big brother of who never let anybody hurt his sibling, would not take no for an answer in this situation.  
All the Fire Blader could do was nod before he called Ifraid back to his hand, placing the Bey in his carrying case and looking at Kira, who could only nod his head.  
The two of them raced further down the hall off to the side, completely ignored by Ren as she blindly focused on the only opponent she now had.  
"Well, Ren.." Kite said, pushing his glasses up on his nose as Revizer came and spun in front of its master, "You wanna play, Ren?... Let's play."...

* * *

Both Zyro and Kira, having taken Kite's word, hurried further down the hall of which they had previously been heading down in the first place.  
The sounds of Bey's clashing had echoed in their ears for a number of minutes before it faded away entirely, the halls seeming to go on forever as they stopped making confusing twists and turns that made them think they were going around in circles.  
At least, the metal halls only seemed to lead straight on, barely able to see it turning a corner up ahead of which they did in no time - but this time, they met in unison with Takanosuke, Sakyo, Shinobu, and Madoka coming around the corner from the hall opposite them.  
Zyro stopped in his tracks upon seeing them while he heard Kira accidentally run into the wall. He glanced back over his shoulder to see the Bahamoote Blader stumble backwards and rub his forehead in irritation.  
"Stupid eye patch..." He muttered under his breath.

"Zyro.." Shinobu panted, coming up to the Fire Blader as he breathed heavily, supposedly from running for a long time, "Did you find Ren?"

"Um.." Zyro began, his eyes widening slightly before averting his eyes away from the light-haired blader, "Yeah, but..."  
His voice trailed off like his eyes did off to the side, an anxious look on his face as he thought about how in the world he would even begin to explain this to his friends.  
"What's wrong?" Madoka asked, concern on her face, "And where are Kite and Eight?"

"Funny story, really.." Kira said as he walked up beside the Fire Blader, finished with rubbing his forehead and getting his bearings together, "It turns out that Alcorin has somehow taken control of Kurenai's mind, and she turned against us against her own will."  
For a moment, all eyes stared at Kira as if he were crazy - of which he partially was - when he said that so bluntly, so plainly like it didn't matter to him.  
Of course, it didn't really matter to him since he wasn't doing this for them or Gingka at all.  
"How's that possible?!" Takanosuke exclaimed, an alarmed look on his face, "Mind control isn't even a thing! Is it?"  
Cerulean blue eyes glanced over at Madoka, who looked at the ground slightly.

"Well..." The woman began, "There was that time with Ryuga, even though he was being controlled by L-Drago. And I'm not entirely sure how it played out with Dynamis when he was corrupted by Pluto.. So I don't really know.."

"And what happened to Kite and Eight?" Shinobu asked, looking back to Zyro of who now seemed less anxious now that Kira had summarized the entire new problem that they now had.  
"Ren knocked Eight out, so Kite stayed behind to fight her." He said warily, glancing away for a moment before looking back to his friend, "Ren could be long gone by now, for all we know.." Shinobu sighed in irritation, turning away slightly with his eyebrows knitted together.  
"Great.." He growled softly, "Now we have another thing to worry about with that psychopath."

"Indeed you do." All of them froze by the almost unfamiliar voice that came from behind them, their heads whipping around in alarm at the tone that they were able to identify all to well.  
"Well, hello there." Alcorin said with a sweet tone in his voice, being giggling like a small child that inhabited his soul before throwing his hand out towards them, an invisible force grabbing at them all and either forcing them against the opposite wall or on either side next to the hallway that was in the middle of the two that connected - all except for Zyro.  
"Shinobu, Madoka, Kira!" Zyro cried out in alarm as he witnessed this process, a shiver ripping down his spine as he heard soft chuckling from behind him from behind him and turned away.  
Alcorin stood there, entirely solid and true, only a few feet away, a small smirk on his face before his eyes narrowed and widened at the same time, pulsating and glowing a bright red before he thrust out his hand towards the younger blader, something grabbing at him and lifting him up in the air by his neck.  
"Zyro!" Shinobu cried out in alarm, fighting against the invisible bindings that bound him to the wall in a failed attempt to get to his friend.  
Zyro, suspended in the air by his neck without Alcorin touching him, grabbed at whatever was there and tried in vain to yank it away, his breathing ragged and choked as he tried to free himself.  
"Wouldn't struggle if you were you, honestly." Alcorin inquired with the tilt of his head, "It makes it harder to breathe.. But that definitely won't matter once I'm done with you, Zyro."

"Leave him alone!" Shinobu pleaded, trying, like the others, to pull away from the force that chained him to the wall, forcing him to stay there with no hopes of escape.  
"Oh, but I'm afraid I can't do that.." The man said with a malicious tone in his voice, his golden-brown eyes staying solidly on Zyro has he weakly strangled him, holding him in his telekinetic grasp with no sign of loosening it up, "After all.. Dear Zyro might not entirely stand in the way of everything I have planned, but he's still a nuisance to them.. Isn't that right?" Alcorin was, of course, met with no answer from the suspended boy, whimpers pathetically escaping his lips as he fought to breath properly, just barely able to meet with Alcorin's eyes as he hung there, "You though you could save your dear Gingka Hagane.. You promised him so thoroughly, so truthfully that you would make sure he would _not_ die in vain... Humans aren't good at keeping promises."  
Zyro's eyes widened slightly, tears coming to the edges of his eyelashes as a burning sensation formed in his chest from lack of air, a suffocating feeling that he so dearly wanted to be released from as it tortured him from the depths of his being to the outside.  
Alcorin only found himself giggling eerily at that, able to clearly see the pain that filled Zyro's eyes, the pleading look for all of this to just stop.  
But no... They would not stop.  
Not until he got what he had fought so hard for.

"You think you know everything there is to it, don't you?" He asked not only Zyro, but all of them, an eerily sweet smile spreading across his lips, "You see what's before your eyes, and you accept it as just plain reality.. That's not so... You all sentenced yourselves to your fate the moment you entered my domain... And I won't leave without at least one life.. But I guess I can take two."

The only thing that filled their ears, the only thing that dug down into the depths of their souls and chilled their very cores was his laugh.  
Something that echoed under another thing, something that was brought up from whoever - no, whatever - Alcorin truly was beneath what they thought they saw as he suffocated Zyro even further, a malicious look of joy on his face as he nearly almost cut off Zyro's airway and the other was left without being able to make a sound as the overwhelming pain burned in him.  
"Zyro!" Madoka screamed, pulling against her own invisible bindings, of which was mimicked by the rest of them as they helplessly watched as Zyro was visibly being strangled right before their eyes.  
"I will have my way, Zyro.." Alcorin said firmly, a small giggle like that of a child lacing his voice as he was just able to catch Zyro's eyes, "I always do.."  
Zyro's eyes squeezed shut as he was unable to breath, fighting for it so dearly as pain nearly erupted in every part of his being.  
"Zyro, no!" Takanosuke cried out, trying to forcefully pull himself away from the wall as they were forced to watch what was happening before them.  
Kira's one eye widened as he saw the look on Zyro's face and in his eyes: Something of true pain that he had never known before, something that forcibly dug it's way into his soul and destroyed him from the inside out.  
The Bahamoote blader - while sickeningly sadistic as it was - should've seen this and felt some sort of sickening joy that he was not ashamed of; he was never met with such a feeling as he watched this process, seeing the calmly crazed look on Alcorin's face as he strangled the life out of poor Zyro.  
No.. This could not be happening... Not now..

"ZYRO!"

Everyone almost seemed to freeze at the shrill voice that suddenly interrupted everything, only being able to catch a glimpse of something pink before it jumped and pushed Zyro out of the way, sending them both crashing to the floor below as the ginger-ravenette was somehow freed from Alcorin's grasp.  
Said psychopath yelped sharply at this after, stumbling slightly and bring his right arm over to clutch his left as the rest of them fell to the floor, now being freed as well from whatever bindings Alcorin had placed on them.  
Most eyes went to the psychopath in question, watching as he glared up from behind his bangs, his form flickering with distortion.  
This Alcorin, who they now knew was no more than a frighteningly realistic hologram, flickering violently before the system cancelled out all together and left them without him.  
All of them breathed heavily from the shock of what they were just put through, Madoka lifting herself up onto her knees and looking towards Zyro in worry before something else caught her eye.  
Turquoise eyes darted over to the other figure that lay there, gathering them-self up off of the floor with a slightly pained expression - Madoka's eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"Maru?" The brunette gaped in confusion, drawing the attention of the of the said pinkette who had stopped Alcorin from strangling Zyro.  
"Hiya, Chief..." The girl said weakly as he pulled herself up off the floor, rubbing her side from making impact there and drawing the eyes of everyone else.  
"What are you doing here?" The brunette asked, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion of how Maru had gotten to where they were and disappointment that she had disobeyed what she was told to do, "The hall was blocked off the rest of the way down here."

"There wasn't anything when I got there.." Maru said as she looked at her teacher with a troubled face. Madoka looked at her student for a moment before sighing and looking away.  
"I told you to stay up there with Tsubasa, you should've listened." The brunette said irritably, of which did nothing to effect Maru's attitude.  
"And if I _had_ listened?" The pinkette suggested, "What then?"  
Madoka's eyes widened at this statement, realization coming to mind as she had momentarily forgotten about Zyro.

"Zyro?"  
They heard Shinobu call out, all eyes turning their attention to the light-haired blader of who was now kneeling down by Zyro, who remained there motionless.  
"Zyro, come on, wake up!" Shinobu called out as they all gathered around the unconscious boy, of who they knew - all because of Alcorin - might not be able to do so.

"ZYRO!"


	29. Chapter 28 - (Choose) To Live

Chapter 28 - (Choose) To Live

* * *

There was nothingness around him. Pure nothingness that - at the same time - seemed like everything brought into one until it was just left with the ultimate darkness that it created.  
An emptiness that had always been in existence and yet had never been truly there at all before. An emptiness that came from inside of him, from the hole that had been torn through there mercilessly with the wages of the war that they had all driven themselves into.  
It had all seemed worth it in the beginning, having something that was worth fighting for now that they knew the truth of his condition, believing that if they were just able to hold onto him long enough they could win this fight.  
But they - he - soon realized that it was meaningless.  
They had foolishly believed that they could save Gingka, that they could somehow bring him back from the brink of death even though he was inevitably walking closer and closer to his unspeakable fate; there was no way to save a man who was on his death bed, his heart slowing down and dying from whatever cause that the doctors could not identify.

No matter how hard they fought in this war that they had all made, 'he' would win no matter the outcome.  
Whether they took him down or he reigned over them all while whimpered helplessly in the corner, he would win on some account and have his sick, twisted way.  
They should've known that it was foolish to even try from the very start, that all hope that they hung onto was nothing but false hope created by the darkest areas of their hearts that had always thought there was a way.  
Zyro knew everything was pointless - Alcorin may as well have already won.  
He knew as he stared into nothingness, on his knees on an invisible ground that couldn't be seen, yet could still gently be felt by the slight ache in his knees.  
His blue eyes looked down onto the ground in front of him, seeing the unconscious form of Gingka before him, flat on his back with a peaceful look on his face.  
The redhead was fully clothed, including with his jacket and scarf that would otherwise choke him if he wasn't completely immobile.  
The way his long bangs, still restricted by his headband, fell over his face and down past his ears made him seem entirely surreal, a paleness about his complexion that seemed entirely unnatural and yet the one thing that had come first.  
Zyro gently lifted one of his hands, his other hand still at his side as he gently brushed his fingers against Gingka's cheek, the contact with soft skin sending a strange tingle up his arm that had been so strange to him at first - he just dearly wished he knew why as he pulled his hand away, looking into the face of the blader that he had already failed.

Zyro couldn't even remember why he had done all of this in the first place, a sense of hopelessness flowing throughout him as he now just realized that there was no reason to even bother fighting.  
Alcorin would have Gingka's life either way - he may as well have already won the battle, and the war.  
They had all been fools to think there was anything they could do, that there was some sort of solution that could help save Gingka, that the redhead in question could indeed live.  
Out of all the battles that the Beyblade Generation had fought, out of the all the wars that it had braved and conquered, out of all the walls that they had built around themselves with gates that united them, this was the one war that they could not win.

 _"Are you tired?..."_

A voice from behind him, something soft and weak, delicate and fragile, one that he could've recognized..

Yes. That could be his only answer.

 _"Are you broken?.."_

Zyro let out a soft breath at the questions he was asked, trying to search deep down in his memory of where he knew this voice from.. But he found it all meaningless to even try such a thing; something that wouldn't matter in the end.

Yes. Why wouldn't he be?...

 _"Will you stop?..."_

Yes.. He had no other choice too..

 _"Will you sleep?..."_

Yes... He was tired..

 _"Will you give in?..."_

... Yes... What reason did he have to go on?.. There was no reason for him to wake up from the endless sleep that he would soon be condemned to.. Just like Gingka..

 _"No."_

A soft gasp escaped his lips that was nothing more than a breath of air, looking up with wide eyes only to see nothing... Of course there was nothing..

What?

 _"No."_

You won't let me rest?..

 _"No."_

You won't let me fall asleep?..

 _"No.."_

Why not?..

 _"You can't.."_

I can't?..

 _"It's not over yet.."_

Why?

 _"Because you promised..."_

Who?...

 _"Him.."_

What _about_ him?

 _"You have to decide that..."_

Him?.. Him of all people?..

Why?..

 _"Because he chose you..."_

Chose him?

But why me?...

 _"Think about it..."_

...

...

...

Who are you?...

The only answer he was met with was silence - a silence that consumed everything, that made chills go down your spine as if you knew there was just something was there even though there was nothing with you.  
But the other was there.. He could feel them.. And somehow, it just felt like someone he had known even before his creation.

 _"I'm..."_

The voice that came from behind Zyro trailed off, never finishing their sentence as silence overtook once more.  
Zyro's eyes became half-lidded for a moment, glancing down at the redhead in front of him before he willed himself to shakily stand up from his kneeling position.  
In that process, he willed himself to turn around and face whatever - whoever - stood behind him in their waiting.  
The ginger-ravenette's eyes widened in shock, looking into the face of the one person that he could have never known.

"You?.."

A small smile etched itself across their face.

 _"Me.."_...

* * *

"Zyro, come on, wake up!" Madoka called out to the younger blader that they were all gathered around, now laying on his back compared to having been on his side from when Maru had tackled him to ground from Alcorin's grasp.  
The Fire Blader still had color, but he wasn't breathing - his heartbeat was there, but it was incredibly weak from when they had checked it.  
"Zyro, please.." Shinobu willed desperately, biting the inside of his cheek at the thought of now losing his best friend.

Zyro couldn't die... Not like this..

Tears had filled Maru's eyes of which she kept in, kneeling on the ground in almost the exact spot that she had been when she had showed up and supposedly saved Zyro's life from Alcorin's grasp - though that action might have proved worthless with the way things were going now.  
"Zyro, come on!" Takanosuke pleaded, a frantic look on his face as he stood behind Shinobu, entirely frazzled by the situation of everything just happening so quickly ever since this morning; one moment, him and Sakyo had come to the B-Pit following Ren out of Takanosuke's worry for whatever happened to Maru (despite not knowing as well as the others), the next they were hurrying down endless corridors towards some sort of control-obsessed psychopath - it really wasn't something that was in their normal everyday schedules.  
But the tension between all of them could only build as they all pleaded for the Fire Blader to wake up, watching for some sort of sign that he was going to be okay save for his weakly beating heart.

All of them except for Kira were gathered around the possibly dying young blader, crying out to him in hopes that their voices could reach him and he would find the will to make it back to them; all Kira did was stand there in the background, looking at the sight before him while simultaneously being unsure of how to feel.  
He didn't care about them, he knew that he very well didn't and didn't have too - he knew that their problems weren't his, that he should pass this off as nothing more than the way life goes as it had with his own mother.  
But for some reason, he wasn't able to find the will to do that.  
All he did was stand there, staring at the sight before him as they all tried to waken the young blader, not knowing what to think about this situation now that his mind had gone completely blank from the many emotions that had filled his body before.

He couldn't care... There was no way he cared about Kurogane..

Whether he died or not was not up to them - it was just a way of life, the thing that they were all slowly creeping towards with every passing minute.  
They were just the foolish ones who kept hanging on, thinking that if they tried hard enough to save someone they would live - so why was there some sort of tightening in his chest towards this?..

 **Ba-thump**

 _"Mommy?..." The creaking of the door.._

No.

 **Ba-thump**

 _Water overflowing from the bathtub, tinged with red.._

Forget about it..

 **Ba-thump**

 _His mother, pale as snow on a late winter's night with cuts on her wrists.._

It doesn't matter.. They don't matter..

 **Ba-thump**

 _"Mommy?..." Laying in a pool of nothing but red, the liquid underneath him dampening his socks.._

You didn't matter..

 **Ba-thump**

With a stoic face did Kira swiftly turn around and slam his fist into the wall, a physical pain spreading from his knuckles and halfway up his elbow, causing him to let out a silent breath that he didn't know he had been holding.  
He ignored the few stares that went his way at this action, focusing on nothing but the pain that spread up his right arm as if it were his only lifeline, the only thing that he bothered to hang onto anymore in the hopelessness that had always been a part of his life. Even with the dulling pain, he kept a blank face that didn't say too much.

He didn't care... He didn't care.. _He didn't care_..

The soft sound of coughing reached his ears, breaking him out of his thoughts and causing him to look back towards the others.  
Everyone's eyes turned back to Zyro, the ginger-ravenette now going into a coughing fit as his breathing returned, his entire body shaking a bit as he turned his head to the side a bit and coughed still.  
The Fire Blader gasped softly once he finished coughing, slowly opening his blue eyes of which they had dreaded they would never see again.  
"Zyro!" Madoka exclaimed in relief, followed by most of the others.  
"You're okay!" Takanosuke blatantly pointed out as a wide smile spread across his face.  
Slowly and carefully did Zyro bring himself up into a sitting position, bringing a hand up near his throat from the dull pain that still receded from there.

"Are you okay, Zyro?" Shinobu asked out of concern, watching as the ginger-ravenette looked over at him a bit with half-lidded eyes. "Y-yeah.." He stuttered, letting his best friend help him up and study himself, "I'll live, at least.."

"Well, you almost didn't.." Kira sighed as he placed his hand on his hip, watching as most of their eyes turned to him, "Judging from the fact that you weren't breathing, but you seem to be okay now."  
Zyro didn't respond to that as he looked down at the floor.  
He had some sort of dream in his sleep-like-death state that was very hazy, yet he could still make it out a bit in his head about what exactly he had seen so clearly in a world that wasn't even real - yet when he supposedly turned around, he couldn't remember what he had seen... He had seen something, or someone maybe, but he found that he wasn't able to remember what that 'something' was.  
"You scared us.." Maru said as she looked up at the Fire Blader with slightly sad eyes, "We didn't think you'd wake up."  
Zyro smiled softly at the pinkette before realization finally came into mind as he got his bearings together and looked at her with a confused expression.  
"Wait, what are you doing here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and causing the girl to sweat-drop.

"Well, apparently the wall that cut us off on the stairs didn't last for long after we went to look for Ren." Madoka began to explain, "And Maru decided not to listen to me and stay with Tsubasa... But I guess it was a good thing, considering she just managed to save your life."  
Zyro looked at the brunette for a moment before smiling down at the pinkette beside her.  
"Thanks Maru.." He said, "I owe you one."  
A small smile made it's way to Maru's lips before she went up and hugged the older boy around the waist, of which he accepted her in doing.  
Kira watched the scene before him as he witnessed most of them being glad that Zyro was okay, that he was alive and safe and that the most Alcorin had done to him was give him an aching throat from nearly choking him to death with his supposed powers.  
It wasn't long before the pastel-haired blader sighed in irritation and looked at them with a solemn expression.  
"So, are we going to go after the psychopath or are we going to sit and make flower crowns all day?" The Bahamoote Blader asked.  
Shinobu seemed about to say something to him before Sakyo interrupted what was likely supposed to be a snarly retort.  
"He's right." The Dragoon Blader said firmly as he looked over at the others, "We should go."

A few of them looked warily at Zyro, seeing as how he had just managed to come back from the brink of death and may have a few in-capabilities as he hadn't really had time to regain his full strength yet, but the Fire Blader simply nodded with a determined look before everything was decided.  
After that, no questions were asked as they headed down the hall that lead off of the 2 halls that, were connected to each other, their footsteps once more echoing off of the metal that surrounded them as they ran closer and closer to the fate and answers that awaited them.  
Zyro was the one who still fought to keep it together as they ran down the hall that now went on forever, the lighting seeming to get a bit dimmer and dimmer as they hurried down their pathway - and as everything seemed to get darker and darker by the second, the more the walls seemed to be closing in around him, chasing after him and pulling at the strings of his sanity of which was all that he really had to hold onto at this point.

Don't let it get to you...

Don't let it get to you..

Just breathe...

Breathe..

Breathe..

The proceeding darkness was all that hid Zyro's slightly anxiety, and the fact that they were running didn't help with breathing in and out calmly either.  
It was only as things kept getting darker did they all see what appeared to be a sliding metal doorway that took up the whole wall, like a few of them up above in the WBBA building, supposedly the entrance to another hallway or room of which Zyro desperately hoped was lit up.  
As they finally came to it, the door opened up without them having to slow down, leading into total darkness with only faint outlines of things that could barely be made out from the lack of light - this was what almost made Zyro finally give into his claustrophobia and start freaking out if he hadn't gotten it together and focused on deep breathing which the others would likely take for exhaustion from running.  
All of them stopped once they were a few feet inside, looking around aimlessly in confusion at what they were doing here and where they were supposed to go in this pitch blackness; though it didn't take them long to know where they were when a voice that they very well recognized broke through the silence.

"Well, it's about time." Teased a voice as menacing as a bear and yet as sweet as tiny bells that made them freeze up where they stood.  
In that moment with a loud bang that filled their ears, the lights of the large, half-circular room flashed on, stinging their eyes for several moments as they had temporarily grown used to the darkness.  
Though it didn't take long for them all to regain their senses back to the light and look up, all eyes immediately falling on the only person on the opposite side of the room, standing only a few steps up on a large and wide platform that was maybe only a meter or so high, a small smirk placed on his lips with a malicious look in his eyes that spoke of nothing but malice.

"I'm glad you came to play.." Alcorin said with a small smirk on his face, his hand on his hip as he stood with a straight posture.  
Many eyes narrowed at the psychopath that stood across the room from them, knowing that perhaps this time it for sure wasn't just a hologram of him - though they might've been able to tell the difference if it was.  
Though despite that, he looked exactly like his holograms had projected: shoulder-length indigo hair with bangs that looked like they were parted twice, narrowed golden-brown eyes that had an almost cat-like appearance to them, a fair skin complexion with a decisively soft face - a brown trench coat that was lined with dull blue, loose white pants that went into knee-high brown boots.  
They had seen his appearance before, but now that they saw the real thing standing before them, they found it entirely had to believe that he was even there, had been waiting for them in the domain that they had walked into of which was rightfully his.  
"Especially you, Zyro, considering you apparently lived." The psychopath continued, tilting his head slightly with a small smile that was anything but friendly.  
Madoka glanced down at Maru when she felt the girl hide behind her a bit, her lavender eyes wide in fear as she stared at the one person she had seen before Dynamis had died.  
The brunette pulled a hand on the side of her student's head, letting her known that she was there and that she wouldn't allow anything to happen to her.

"We're here, Alcorin, so what do you want?" Zyro demanded, narrowing his eyes at the bluenette across the room.  
"Interesting question.." The psychopath speculated in a voice that was entirely surreal, as if there and waiting to force it's way into their minds, take hold of them and swallow them whole like a python, "With quite an interesting answer... Obviously we've all got down that I kind of want Gingka Hagane dead while simultaneously making him suffer.. But I suppose the question you're going to ask next is.. Why?"  
Their eyes narrowed at the sociopath across from them, Zyro already getting slightly annoyed from his casual attitude in doing something so horrific.

"Enough with the games!" Shinoby demanded, "How can you say something that casually about taking someone's life?"  
All Alcorin did was shift his golden-brown eyes to the light-haired blader and raised an eyebrow at him as if he were the one who was absolutely crazy.  
"How?" He repeated, "You obviously don't know anything psychopaths, now do you?.. And suggesting you don't, let me fill you in: I don't care about anybody. I'd tell you what I'm doing this for, which is quite an interesting story on both parts, but that ruins the fun of it all."

"How can you say this is fun?!" Takanosuke demanded, glaring at the blunette slightly with an intensity that he didn't know he had in him.  
"Again, you really must not know much about people like me." Alcorin said before a small giggle escaped his lips, causing most of them to shiver from the familiar and terrifying sound that they had heard over and over again, "It might not be any fun for you.. But it may as well be like Christmas morning to me! Kira would understand, now wouldn't you? After all, sadists tend to understand each other and our love for other's pain."  
Zyro's, Shinobu's, Takanosuke's, and Madoka's eyes looked over at Kira, who said nothing as he turned only Zyro's gaze with his one eye before looking back to Alcorin.  
"You wouldn't even dare deny it, child..." Alcorin said with a tilt of his head, a red hue appearing in eyes of golden-brown, something lying behind them that hid all that he really was underneath all that he appeared to be, "The sweetly sickening joy you get when you see someone in pain.. How badly you want to see them cry and lick their tears just to know how sorrow tastes?" A hysteric giggle escaped the psychopath, bringing a hand up near his mouth slightly before opening his eyes again of which appeared to be even more crazed than they already had been, "It's exactly the feeling I felt when I saw how much little Gingka was suffering for over three weeks.. How badly he wanted someone, _anyone_ , to notice and save him from the overwhelming pain that may as well been death itself!.. But you denied it, Zyro."  
Zyro's eyes widened as his breath caught in his throat, his entire body tensing up like a rock as he heard the voice of which was now all too familiar to him - yet there was something in it that he couldn't identify, something that his brain screamed at him to notice and realize.

There was something about his eyes...

Something about his eyes and his voice that wasn't real..

Couldn't be real..

"You knew something was wrong with him, Zyro." Alcorin mocked, an amused tone in his voice as he easily got under the younger blader's skin with what he knew would get to him from watching them for so long, "You even guessed it spot on and you were convinced that you were right.. But just from that pathetic 'I'm fine' from you, you denied everything you thought you believed because you wanted to believe that you were wrong.. You couldn't hold onto the idea long enough to be sure that you knew what was wrong, and now look where he is!"  
Alcorin swiftly raised his arm and snapped his fingers, the largest screen lining the wall directly behind him turning on with a loud noise.  
Sharp gasps escaped Shinobu, Zyro, and Madoka as they saw what was on the screen behind him - Gingka. Still in his bed at the B-Pit, still comatose with weak breaths that they could just barely see being taken from his mouth as he slept endlessly in the world of his mind that he was condemned to.  
"Gingka..." Madoka breathed out softly, her eyes wide as she saw the unchanged condition of the comatose redhead visibly displayed on one of the many screens that lined the wall.  
Another giggle escaped Alcorin's lips as he saw their reactions, finding nothing but pure amusement in the expressions placed on most of their faces.  
"Creepy, I know you'll say." He said teasingly, rolling his wrist off to the side lightly, "But I couldn't find any other way to make sure I could keep an eye on all of you at all times. After all, the WBBA does have some very interesting surveillance systems that I was able to use to my benefit."

"You've been watching us the entire time?" Zyro questioned out of shock, his eyes wide as he stared at the screen behind the psychopath before his eyes went to Alcorin himself.  
"Yeah..." The dark bluenette sighed in an almost carefree way, "I mainly did it to watch as Hagane suffered endlessly.. But once he went into a coma there was no one else for me to watch suffer except for all of you." Another giggle escaped the man, one that was possibly the remnants of a broken childhood that had perhaps made him the way he was, "Well... I guess that's not _entirely_ true.. Seeing as how I _do_ have this.."  
A small eerie smile made it's way upon his lips as he lifted his left hand, palm up while clutching something gently in his fingers - a crimson orb that seemed to be a perfect sphere, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand and for his fingers to wrap around and yet big enough for them to see.  
The crimson color that it was seemed more bright near the core, and darker getting to the outside - it almost seemed to be pulsating lightly from the very core of it, like the beat of a human heart.  
"What is that?" Madoka asked, wary and slightly afraid of the answer that she would have as Alcorin giggle like that of a school girl talking about the boy she oh so adored - which was honestly very creepy.  
"Well, I'm very glad you asked.." He said with a small smirk crossing his features, "You can very well decide if you wish to believe this or not, but either way, I will be truthful with you.. _This_ is the only thing that's keeping your precious Gingka alive. It may as well as be his heart with how things stand now.."  
All eyes widened at this statement, everyone falling silent as they processed this impossible information with what they were given.  
Kira and Zyro exchanged a glance with each other, as if telepathically speaking about what they had both suspected from earlier that day.  
What they had guessed was absolutely crazy, but hearing this seemed to make it a bit less so somehow.  
Though Alcorin tilted his head to the side a bit as he saw their precious reactions, chuckling softly with his eyes closed before opening them again.

"Unbelievable, I know." He teased, "But do believe me when I say it's true.. You didn't honestly think that he was having those little 'episodes' for no reason, now did you?"  
This time there was a laugh that came from him as the words escaped his mouth - though Takanosuke and Sakyo seemed somewhat confused, the others had no problem in knowing what he was talking about. Maru, who was practically clinging to Madoka's leg looked at the orb in his hand with fearful lavender eyes.  
She had seen him holding it when he had been at the Mist Mountain Shrine - it also explained the terrible feeling that she got when he had squeezed it in the palm of his hand.. Because he had been hurting Gingka..  
"Yeah, that was me." He said with a non-guilty smile, his tone so casual that it was almost sickening, "It was honestly quite fun to watch how he reacted to it. Sometimes I'd do it for fun, to mess with your emotions.. And other times I just use it as a stress ball. Which is _definitely_ not good for little Gingka, now is it?"

He quickly scanned their expressions, their faces only becoming more and more amusing to him as he saw them suck in the whole truth.  
"Don't believe me?" He asked playfully with a malicious accent to his voice, "Fine then.. Observe instead."  
Lifting the orb in his hand beside him, he wrapped his fingers firmly around it - and squeezed. Their eyes widened as the orb in his hand seemed to glow a bit brighter from the middle; and simultaneously on the screen behind him, they watched as Gingka's condition changed in a familiar way.  
He closed his eyes tightly, his breathing quickening and almost getting caught in his throat as the heart monitor beside his bed quickened in pace just like it had several times before - only this time around, the redhead seemed to be in more pain than he previously had been, of which all of watched in sheer horror as Alcorin squeezed the orb in his hand of which they now knew stood as Gingka's heart.  
"Stop it, you're hurting him!" Zyro shouted, and surprisingly enough, Alcorin did.  
His grip on the orb in his palm loosened, though he still held it firmly as to not drop it - and thankfully, Gingka slowly calmed down from his most recent episode, his breathing still weak but a bit fast from the very recent trauma and pain.  
A giggle is what tore them away from the screen, something that was still horrifying to hear and struck fear into their very depths of their souls.

"I told you so.." The dark bluenette mocked with the remnants of his giggle on his tongue, "Gingka's life is in _my_ hands.. It has been since the very beginning."  
Madoka narrowed her eyes slightly, biting the inside of her cheek as she remembered all the times during the last week that Gingka had one of his little episodes where he would freak out and his condition would get worse - it was all because of Alcorin... All of it..  
"But Hikaru's there, isn't she?" Maru questioned softly, though still able to be heard by the others, "Wouldn't she hear and see what's going on with Gingka and call for some sort of help?"

"Hikaru?" Alcorin repeated, before a laugh escaped his throat - it almost became a hysterical one from the pure amusement that he got from that before looking at them with a cruel look behind his eyes, "Hikaru can't do anything to help him or you.. Well.. More like she _won't_.."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Madoka demanded, beginning to really become tired of Alcorin's attitude towards this entire situation.  
"Well I'm not surprised none of you noticed.." The psychopath said with a smirk on his face, "After all, she is quite good at pretending she's _not_ under my control."  
All eyes widened at this sudden statement, shock overturning them all with this reveal that they had never expected coming.  
" _Just_ like Ren.." Alcorin mocked with a sickeningly playful tone, "Only Hikaru's been under my influence for the past month and all of you were incapable of noticing. She's quite a good actor, I'll give her that. I honestly probably wouldn't have gotten as far as I did without Hikaru.. Well, maybe, but being as close to the Director of the WBBA as she is, she certainly proved helpful."

No.

No, this could _not_ be true.. First Ren, and now Hikaru.

Or the other way around, considering that said bluenette was seemingly first.

"But..." Maru began, "W-wouldn't we have noticed?.." A chuckle made it's way from Alcorin's throat, a rather content look on his face towards their reactions.  
"With how well it was hidden, most certainly not." He said mockingly, "It's strange what a little bug bite can do to you.. One minute she's entirely free in her choices, and the next she has no other choice but to obey and turn her loyalty to me.. She was and is nothing but a puppet to me - but she did help me succeed quite well with many of the things I've done. I've changed her appearance to look exactly like me.. Made clones of her that cleverly fooled all of you since you're really oblivious when under such stress.. It's strange how people like you work."

What?

Disguised her to look like him?

Made clones of her?..

What the hell was he talking about?

"What do you mean you made her 'look like you'?" Kira questioned, asking one of the many questions that raced through all of their heads at once.  
"Oh, I shape shift." The psychopath said like it was the most casual thing in the world, "It might not be a thing where you all come from, but is _very_ much a thing with me.. But it's not just myself I can shape shift, oh no.. Only those I have full control over can I do so - and it could potentially fool you unless you know what someone's eyes look like. Because I can't change those.."

"So you c-could've been her?..." Maru asked shakily as she still grasped onto the edges of Madoka's skirt.  
"I _could've_ been.." Alcorin answered, still holding Gingka's very life in his hands as he stood there, "But believe me, child.. My eyes do _not_ go with that hair.. As for the clones on the other hand, they were just solid-looking holograms.. Of course, it was a bit hard for me to keep track which one I had here but that won't matter. It was the same back there where he apparently failed to rid you of dear Zyro. The only reason I could use my abilities is because they're at least real enough for me to generate my powers through them - the same goes for when I took control of Ren. Of course, no one was there, but Hikaru _was_ shifted to look like me so that I could use my powers through her and just wait to fully control Ren." A giggle escaped his lips from the joy that governed his void-like soul, "It was a very interesting set-up if I dare to say so myself."

"Why are you doing all of this?" Sakyo asked solemnly, now seemingly intrigued about the events that were now taking place, and how everything just suddenly seemed to fit together - he made no reaction when Alcorin's eyes shifted to him with an almost irritated look on his usually calm features.  
"To complete what my father failed." He answered bitterly, "Not even he was strong enough to do everything that I had, which almost makes me disappointed in him.. But I will say I look up to my old man."

"You're father?.." Zyro questioned, something stirring in his chest as some sort of feeling arose - he wasn't sure he was going to like the answer that he received.  
"Yes, quite." The dark bluenette said with an almost look, "What was his name again?... Oh right! Nemesis, as I recall."  
That's when everything hit the fan and things came into sudden realization that flat out punched them in the face.

What?..

No..  
No, this all had to be some sort of sick joke made up in that twisted mind of his.. That wasn't possible, was it?

Alcorin was the _son_ of _Nemesis_?.. At this revelation, Kira and Zyro exchanged glances once more.  
From the mere contact of their eyes/eye, they both immediately knew exactly what the other was thinking - seeing as how it had been Kira's assumption in the first place, it turned out he may have very well be right.

"Nemesis?.." Takanosuke repeated out of confusion, almost as if he was entirely confused on what in the world Alcorin was talking about - but they all knew the name of Nemesis, as everyone did.

"You know, the one that little Gingka destroyed 7 years ago?" Alcorin clarified mockingly, a small giggle escaping him as his eyes suddenly looked much more terrifying than they ever had; golden-brown eyes darkened to almost a black color before they lit up again with the color of red that remained as an aura behind them.  
"N-no.." Madoka denied, shaking her head, "T-that can't be true.. That's not possible.."

"Tell me about my powers, then." Alcorin retorted cleverly, an amused look on his face, "Are you going to tell me that any normal human being can actually hold someone's heart in the palm of their hands and slowly kill them in a coma induced sleep?.. Because if you are, it is highly unconvincing."  
Madoka's words got caught in her throat at his own, feeling entirely backed into a dark corner of which hope did not exist, a feeling stirring in her stomach of which she had known before - the dread of everything that was happening, the dread of what he could very well do at any given moment because he had the power to do so.  
"How?.." Shinobu asked, a confused and shocked look on his face as he tried to process this newly given information of which they had not previously known about, and now discovered that they may have very not wanted to know.

"Well, it all started with my birth." Alcorin said teasingly, " _Really_ interesting story, actually.. But I won't be getting into that. Besides, it's not like it'll matter since you _should_ be worrying about the little liar."  
His eyes - still as red as the orb he held in his hand - gestured back to Gingka suggestively.  
"Why in the hell would you do this to him?!" Zyro demanded to know, of which none of them argued against.  
"Isn't it obvious?" The psychopath questioned bitterly, his eyes golden-brown once more having returned from their more demonic state, "That man is the savior of the Beyblade world. On a number of occasions to be more precise.. I'm really quite shocked of how many people didn't think of killing him before they tried taking over the world. Because really, it makes things a _lot_ easier.. And now that I have you all here like good little puppets... I don't think there's anymore reason for me to let him live."

"What?.." Madoka gasped out, her entire body tensing along the others at these words.

"You didn't think I was just going to let him live forever, now do you?" Alcorin asked, his eyes narrowing with a smirk on his face as the golden-brown orbs gleamed red once more and perhaps showing through to a true nature that they couldn't see, "You all knew it from the very beginning.. No matter what the outcome, no matter what you do to try and stop me.. I _will_ have my way. One way or another."  
As his words walked off of his tongue, he passed the cracked orb to his opposite hand of which his handedness did not lie for whatever reason - but with a devilish look upon youthfully flawless features, he took no hesitance and squeezing it tightly in his palm like he had previously.  
Most of them jumped out of shock when a scream reached their ears, all eyes except for Alcorin's red ones went to the screen behind said sociopath, witnessing it unfold before them as Gingka screamed in pure agony as what was basically his heart was being crushed from the inside of his chest - the heart monitor beside him could clearly be heard as it beat faster than it ever had as he screamed unconsciously from the depths of his endless sleep.

"No!" Madoka screamed, unsure of what to do as her entire body shook and tears came to her turquoise eyes.

"Gingka!"

"Stop it!"

"You're hurting him!"

"Cut it out!"

"You sicko!"

The only reaction that they got from Alcorin was a small smile on his face and another change in his eyes - a change that didn't reflect any light even with from the glowing orb that began to crack on the surface beside him, only the cracks in it went even deeper than just the mere surface, spreading slowly all the way towards the core as the redhead from behind him screamed in the unbearable pain that he had never hoped to exist.  
There was something in his eyes that reflected everything of who and what he was, the heritage that he had been born into and even back far into a past that few had known about and long forgotten - something he would not allow them to see, but made clear from the eyes that went back his entire life.  
A small giggle escaped from Alcorin's lips, something that echoed in their heads and delved down into the deepest parts of their minds of which seemed to open them up - Gingka's screams of agony could never have been more clear; it was a sound that was inhuman, something that could only be caused by the truest of pains that went inside the very depths of his soul.

"Leave him alone!" Zyro weakly cried out before his breath hitched in his throat as they all heard a shattering sound, seeing Alcorin's hand now closed up into a fist with something pouring out through his fingers like sand that he let fall to the ground - and Gingka's screams had finally ceased as he flat lined entirely, his pained expression fading as his face went entirely white from the blood no long flowing through his veins.  
A chuckle came from the psychopath's throat as if something as released, letting all that remained of the orb that had once been a substitute for Gingka's heart fall to the ground as pieces small than sand grains - his eyes were not that of anything remotely human anymore.  
His irises were red, without reflecting any sort of light despite the quite bright lights from above - there was something in his eyes that lead far deeper than they could see on the surface.

Though no one cared about that anymore as time seemed to slow all at once - Madoka's mouth hung open in a failed cry, tears filling Maru's eyes and spilling over the edges of her eyelashes and staining her cute cheeks further - Sakyo and Takanosuke stood in nothing but shock as only the sound of Gingka's no longer beating heart rang endlessly in their ears, Shinobu not knowing how to react and instead looking over at Zyro along with Kira.  
The blader's eyes were wide, his breathing heavy as he slowly looked down and away from the screen towards the ground. His breathing was heavy and deep, much like they had heard Gingka's be before his heart had ultimately stopped.  
Shinobu instinctively went to assure that the other was alright, while Kira's one eye made its way back to the psychopath on the other side of the room, laughing hysterically with an undertone that was anything but mortal.

 **Ba-thump**

 _"Mommy, are you okay?..."_

 **Ba-thump**

 _Red everywhere... On the floor, in the water.._

No.. You don't care..

 **Ba-thump**

 _His socks were wet as he up beside his tub, his tiny hand clutching her cold shoulder..._

This isn't like then.. It doesn't matter..

 **Ba-thump**

 _"Where's my mommy?.." There was no answer.._

What had he done this for?..

Alcorin's giggling was all that rang in the background, taking over everything else as the screen behind him shut off with no further purpose.  
"I told you you couldn't save him, Zyro!" The supposed demi-god mocked with a sickeningly joy lacing the edges of his voice, "Because I always get my way."...

* * *

When Gingka opened his eyes, he knew he wasn't really awake.

After all, if he had been, he would probably see the ceiling of a hospital room and hear the beeping of the heart monitor from beside his bed that could confirm he was still alive.

No... He opened his eyes, and saw before him a reality that was entirely his own - though this one was one that he liked.  
Not an endless void of darkness of which he was held down to, not a pitch black abyss that he would forever be condemned to - it was world of stars and galaxies, warm and cold colors all mixed together in a beautiful scenery that was entirely his own, something that defined his soul and spoke all that his name was.  
It was the one place that he could always willingly retreat to for comfort, burying himself inside his mind even if just for a moment to see the united entities and lifeforms that likely inhabited the cosmos around him that he loved so much.  
It was his ideal - to see all things joined to together and accepting each other as one, knowing only peace and not war that tore them apart from each other instead of uniting them.  
Gingka knew very well that it was something too good to ever be true, but he had always loved to imagine a world of paradise of where there was always freedom, and no walls to keep them in, no chains to hold them down, where everyone accepted each other and never fought in their ceaseless battles.  
It was the world that he had always dreamed of, a universe that he had always wanted out of the very depths of his weakening heart - it was everything that he stood for, and everything that he was.

"What took you so long?.." Came a voice from behind him, causing the redhead to jump slightly and turn around swiftly with his scarf following with his movements; he found himself facing a glowing entity just a few feet away, a pure being of light that he had to squint at from the brightness that it emitted.  
But the glow from it gradually calmed down and dimmed, taking a transparent human form of which he had to look at for several moments before he was finally able to identify who it was.  
The redhead's eyes widened, unable to say a word as he stared into the face of who he had looked at as an old friend - and one that he had not seen in so long that he had to look into the depths of all he could remember before recognizing him.  
He had changed in age, but he still seemed as youthful as he had the last time he had seen him from the day they had lost him; a soft whisper escaped on Gingka's tongue, a name that he had not said with such emotion in a long time.

"Ryuga..."

And for the first time, a smile graced Ryuga's lips.

* * *

6:00

5:59

5:58


	30. Chapter 29 - Drown

Chapter 29 - Drown

* * *

6:00

5:59

5:58

* * *

It seemed like forever since Hikaru had opened her eyes - _really_ opened her eyes and realized the mistakes that she had made. They were not made willingly, not entirely by her, but they were still _her_ mistakes.  
She had not been aware that that mere bug bite she had gotten when she went to visit her mother's grave as something very, very serious, completely oblivious to the fact that she had been marked and had been ready to be triggered at any moment to turn her loyalty immediately to Alcorin.  
Yet even in a state that felt entirely like a dream, she remembered everything very clearly in her mind - there were times under his control that she felt almost awake, and she still had a very clear memory of everything that psychopath had told her, things that she had wished to tell Zyro, Gingka, and the others about before everything finally went up in flames.

But there had been something that stopped her voice from coming out, forced her to keep quiet about it with something that she did not argue against and felt entirely natural about - even now, she knew there was no way she was ever going to be free of Alcorin's control.  
Like Gingka, he was the one who controlled her fate. And from what he had very well told her awhile ago, he would also soon have control of Ren's if he didn't already.  
But that was the one thing that was ripped from her mind as she heard a sound from down the hall, something that sounded mechanical and neutral, like a button that made an ongoing beeping sound as long as you had your finger on it.

Wait... No...

Hikaru's breathing stuttered, turning more into a hyperventilating type of state before his instinctively got up and ran out of the kitchen, hurrying down the hall with her vision that seemed to blur from the panic that now filled her heart.  
The light-haired bluenette burst into Gingka's room at once, breathing hard as the sound of only a straight, long beep filled her ears - the sound of Gingka's weak breathing was nowhere to be heard as there remained only silence but for the flat-lining of the heart monitor.  
Hikaru's fearful bluish-purple eyes made their way from the heart monitor beside Gingka's bed to the redhead himself, of who now lay entirely motionless upon the bed that he had been condemned to for the past week ever since he had fallen into his endless state of slumber.  
Now he lay there, his breathing having ceased entirely like his heartbeats, his face entirely devoid of color as the ghost of his last breath remained faintly on his now flawless looking features.  
Hikaru, from spending so much of her unwillingly given time with Alcorin, new perfectly how all of this had happened.  
Alcorin held what was practically Gingka's heart in his hands, crushing the very essence of his being underneath his fingers while the redhead's fate was his to decide - and Alcorin had very well decided it.  
"Gingka.." Hikaru spoke weakly, her breathing heavy as her eyesight seemed to blur for a moment, panic setting in and taking her being as she stood there, making her reflect back on everything that she had done and not done to lead up to this, how she had not been strong enough to at least try and resist Alcorin's powers that she knew very well no one was ever capable of resisting - Gingka was dead.  
Alcorin had taken his life with any second thoughts on what he was doing, and she knew and remembered very clearly the reason why.  
It was because...

5:20

5:19

5:18

But there was a feeling that emerged deep inside of her, something that she knew was her decision and not his - the last bit of free will that she really had left in her, of which she now had the choice to use or not.  
And she would, just to feel what true freedom felt like again, to escape from the hardened shell that she had been imprisoned in by that control-obsessed psychopath. Her eyes made their way back to Gingka, and she somehow _knew_... It wasn't too late.  
Not just yet. His heart may have stopped, his breathing may have ceased, but there was still a very narrow possibility that Gingka could live... And Alcorin had carelessly explained to her all about what it was - there was technically two ways.  
1: Eliminate the source or the source releases it, and 2... It was much more complicated.  
Something that Dynamis had likely known about from the supposed ruins he had found in his Shrine according to Maru, something that Alcorin had wanted absolutely nobody else to know.  
But even with how clever he was in the well thought out plan that he had ensued, the one mistake he had made was telling her that dear secret - and even more so, not paying attention to the state she was now in, for now able to act on her own free will like Ren had been throughout a few weeks.  
Hikaru bit the inside of her lip as a feeling of anxiety crawled up into her stomach, thinking over this important choice that she had very little time to make - there had been many important decisions and events that had happened in the last month that could have very well affected Alcorin's plans, but this was the one that would decide everything.  
After all she had done and all she had failed to do, Hikaru knew that these actions would mean nothing once it was all over; yet even so - her eyes drifted down to the redhead of who seemed to almost be drained of all color as death had finally taken his soul - maybe they would at least mean _something_ once all of this ended.  
"I'm sorry.." She said as tears filled her eyes, gazing down at the blader that had done so much for her without even asking for anything back, the blader who had offered her his friendship and spoken too her through battle alone - maybe at last, she would finally get to repay him for everything he had done for her.

5:02

5:01

5:00

4:59...

* * *

At this moment, all of them felt nothing.

There was silence except for the light chuckle from the bottom of Alcorin's throat as he watched their expressions shift or stay the same as they were, watched some break down, watched some stand there in shock, watched some quiver in fear, and - from what he could see in Kira's case - being reminded of times long ago.  
Madoka was the one who stood there, her mouth hanging open as silent cries remained as ghosts on her face as the tears gathered in her dilated eyes, hanging off the edges of her eyelashes and being brave enough to let go every now and then.  
Maru looked up to her teacher in concern, her entire body shaking and making her temporarily immobile as she just couldn't help but wonder if this was how Dynamis had died as well.  
Not likely, considering she had already gotten enough proof with the Guardian's snapped neck to know how he died.  
But her main concern was all towards her teacher, of stood there with shaking legs that threatened to knock together and send her down to her knees as she broke down, crying puddles of tears that not even she would have known she had left in her - yet the brunette's breath shook as she slowly closed her mouth, of which was forced down in a small frown with gritted teeth caused by how badly she wanted to cry, to scream out the pain and agony that she had kept inside this entire time, for all of it to just end - maybe it just had.  
Shakily did Madoka back up a few steps, the tears falling from her eyes as her back simultaneously hit the wall behind her and made her slowly sink down to the ground, her entire body shaking uncontrollably as tears wracked her being in silent mourning.  
Maru bit the inside of her cheek, slowly getting down on her own still bandaged knees and wanting to comfort her teacher, to wrap her arms around her and tell her it was alright like she had done with her so many times before - only she didn't know too.

Zyro, meanwhile, was almost hyperventilating, the only thing keeping him together being Shinobu's presence and knowing that there was still someone there, still someone with him in the small wall of anguish that had suddenly built up around him - he knew it probably wasn't his place to feel this type of agony, remorse, regret... But even so, he couldn't help it.  
Kira didn't have much to say on the situation as he stared at the ground with his one eye, forcing down the memories of his lost childhood and the emotions that resurfaced and emerged from the depths of his soul - this was nothing like that time 11 years ago, much different than when he had been merely a small child when finding his mother dead in the bathtub and then being taken away by Social Services and placed in Foster Care.  
He had said to himself and to Zyro that he was doing this just to repay said Ifraid Blader for saving his life, he had convinced himself that that was the reason that he had ever decided to even remotely help them at all, but... Deep down in the depths of his blackened heart, he knew that that was a lie.  
A flat out lie that he had brought himself to believe throughout the time span of a mere week - he didn't just do it because he owed Zyro, and that he really didn't want them all to be pathetic little cry babies like he knew people were in these type of situations... He did it because he knew what it was like to just suddenly lose someone you cared about, how you would see them happy and smiling one moment and suddenly find them dead or dying the next.  
He had experienced that first hand at a very young age and come to see the world as it really was not too long after, maturing far too soon in life and never really having a childhood - he knew what it was like to suddenly just have something or someone you cared about just ripped away from you, he had experienced it first hand on a number of different occasions of which he forced down into the darkest parts of his mind.

It didn't upset him that Gingka was dead, not in the slightest bit - but it did remind him of that time so long ago that he vaguely remembered, his one eye making its way up to the psychopath who had caused all of this in the first place of who was now looking at them with almost cat-like eyes and small smile on his face.  
It was the face of someone who had no guilt for his actions, who felt no remorse or any such emotion as he watched the pained, sorrowful expressions grow upon the faces of the others, watching as they were all wiped clean of the false hope that they had clung on to.

4:31

4:30

4:29

Nothing about Alcorin was human - quite literally. He make take the appearance on the outside, but there was something else under his human skin - his eyes pointed that out plainly enough.  
In the form that they had usually seen, they were quite a lovely golden-brown color of which almost looked a tad bit familiar, though the reminder could not be placed; those eyes spoke nothing but insanity and corruption, but when his eyes turned red, into a color that nearly matched the color of blood, they spoke an entirely different story of which was hard to make out.  
The eyes that reflected no light in them despite the fair brightness of the room were the ones that spoke beyond words, all of them nearly too afraid of them to look deep down into the depths of his plainly seen pupils and truly see what was hidden behind the eyes that existed before anything golden-brown could have.  
The only thing that sealed the deal with him was claiming to be the  
flesh and blood son of the God of Destruction, of which - in all meaning - made more sense than most of them were willing to admit.  
"What are you all so _upset_ about?" Alcorin asked with amusement in that venomous voice of his, mocking them endlessly in a way that furthered him away from the point of being human at all, if he had ever even been so, "Crying over the death of someone who was going to die one way or another... _Pathetic_.. _Everyone_ dies sooner or later, that's what they've all been trying to tell you.. But you hang on, and for what? To hope they'll come back?"

4:01

4:00

3:59

Zyro's blue eyes, the irises almost shaking from the emotions that built up in him in the form of a wall and threatened to come crashing down, his gaze followed by that of Shinobu and Kira as well as Sakyo and Takanosuke who had been looking up there in the first place.  
"Okay, sure, Hagane has done things for a lot of people, especially all of you.." The psychopath continued, "But seeing you all crying over it is something that I find absolutely _pathetic_... Yet so dearly enjoyable.. Kira could agree with me. I obviously as much about him as the rest of you do, but... I guess we're really the only two who actually get it.."  
A growl made its way from the bottom of Kira's throat, his eye staying on Alcorin as his head faced towards the ground slightly in a single-eyed glare, not caring about the eyes that might and were looking at him before going back to Alcorin.

"You hang onto something so false..." He speculated, narrowing his currently golden-brown eyes, "You love what is nothing more than a beautiful lie while simultaneously walking towards a dreadful truth.. Everything you stand for will fade, everything you all ever built will all com crumbling down as time goes on and yet you hang on to the hope that you can somehow _change_ that!... It's so pathetic and yet so amusing to see you hang onto the false hope that _everything_ will be alright in the end."  
Madoka, through her tears, shakily went to look up, tear tracks once more staining her now red cheeks of which had nearly gone raw from the nearly impossible amount of crying that she had done that week, unable to help listening to Alcorin's words of which forced their way past all barriers and broke down walls with no other thoughts.  
Maru still knelt beside her with her hands near her bandaged knees, her head facing downward for the most part and her eyes slightly shadowed by the bangs that fell over her face a lot of the time, listening to the words that forced their way into her head like it did with the others, not knowing what else to do but merely sit there as all hope that they had once had seemed to be ripped away just like Gingka's life had been.

"Humanity stands as the greatest threat in existence.." Alcorin said, almost in a sentimental way if he had been truly capable of having such 'human' emotion, "Beings so naive, believing that everything they see in front of them and around them will bend to their will and turn out.. _Their_ way.. I may not have known my father.. But I would be able to see why he would search to destroy such nuisances, and why he would find it so amusing to watch as everything they believed was possible is violently ripped away from them, and leaving them with nothing. I suppose I take after him in more ways than it fully appears, don't I?"  
It was almost a question, but no one answer, for he wanted no answer.  
Alcorin narrowed his eyes slightly, golden-brown once more darkening slowly before returning to color as that of a luminous red yet still able to reflect light unlike some other form of his eyes that he had.  
"The best part..." The psychopath continued, a small giggle lacing the edges of his words oh so delicately, "Is that he lived for those 3 weeks, in constant pain that he hid from all of you of the desperate will to seem normal, and _lied_.. He spent 3 weeks, hiding his pain and the so-called horrifying truth from all of you, and it was all too late did he believe that you would hate him for keeping such secrets. I watched him suffer... I watched him _break_ under the pressure, watched him as he slowly and surely grew to believe that you would never be able to forgive him for the lies that he told directly to your faces."  
Madoka bit back a scream at this as she buried her face in her hands and knees, all of them being able to hear her muffled agony despite her attempt to hold it all back - Maru had recoiled slightly when she heard that sound come from her teacher, her small body tensing as she had her hands together in her lap and pulled at her fingers in hooks a couple of times out of the anxious feeling in her chest.

3:19

3:18

3:17

Shinobu's green eyes, while narrowed in irritation and annoyance towards the psychopath, almost immediately turned his attention back towards Zyro, of who was now once more looking down towards the ground with dilated pupils.  
His bangs nearly overshadowed his eyes, shaking lightly from what Shinobu could feel from under his palm on Zyro's shoulder, not knowing what to say or do that could possibly do anything to help the mental state of his best friend right now - and it was evident that Kira likely wasn't really up for smacking him upside the head.  
Sakyo and Takanosuke were perhaps the only two people who could really focus at this point, since they were the ones who didn't really know much about the inhuman being - whatever he really was - standing before them all, but even they didn't know how to handle this situation at the moment.

"I guess that's what makes humans so interesting.." Alcorin said with a hidden joy behind his voice as he just barely licked his top lip, a small giggle escaping him with red eyes that reflected back on everything he stood for, "And yet so revolting all the same.. You think you exist and triumph over others that were here first, while all the while being too blind to see anything behind what's in front of you.. And that's what makes you all so weak. Then there was little Gingka... And he was definitely an interesting one while he lasted. He would lie to his best friends after years of knowing and trusting them more than anyone, hide the pain that quite literally destroyed him from the inside out in unbearable agony... But the most delicious part of it all, is that _nobody_ will remember him."  
Those words were what finally struck home, Madoka looking up from having her face buried in her hands and knees, Zyro's bangs covering most of his eyes and yet still able to be seen by Shinobu of who stood right beside him, Takanosuke gasping silently with Sakyo giving no reaction - Kira gave no reaction either other than his one eye widening in the slightest bit.  
"Don't you see?.." Alcorin asked, tilting his head to the side, "Most of the things little Hagane did were isolated, never really reaching the public like most people would think it would. Gingka Hagane may have destroyed my father, yes... But in the end, he's just like everybody else..."...

* * *

When he holds the fate of more than one in his hands and a life hangs in the balance between them all, one can give their life to save the other...  
That is what he had told her.  
Hikaru had stood there in that moment, remembering the words that he had said to her very clearly in her mind, and knew that she had a decision to make.  
The decision that would settle everything between them all, a decision that she already made as she exited Gingka's room and headed down the hallway as tears gathered in her eyes.

 **"He was a legend... For saving the world from a God of Destruction, why wouldn't he be?... But his legend, as it stands, is nothing more than a mere mirage in the desert caused by thirst and hunger.."**

2:01

2:00

1:59

1:58

Everything seemed to slow down as Hikaru walked down that hallway, some sort of clock ticking in her ears of which also could've been her own heartbeat, tears welling in her eyes as images from her life earlier on before this flashed before her eyes even though she knew that that wasn't supposed to logically happen - yet even so, regret pooled inside her being of remembering all the things that she had and hadn't done, the promises that she had made to her mother and failed to keep...  
If she were to look in the mirror, all she would see anymore was the failure that she had grown up to be.  
But by this time, none of that mattered to her - nothing really did matter anymore in this once colorful world that had now been reduced to grey.

1:49

1:48

1:47

 **"At first, there will be sorrow.. Tears, and anguish endured by perhaps all of Japan at the newly discovered death of Gingka Hagane.. But as time goes on, everyone will forget about him.. His name will have been nothing more than a mere myth, and with time he will fade.."**

Hikaru already knew what she had to do, what she wanted to do with this freedom that she knew she wouldn't have for long anyway.  
She wiped the tears away from her eyes as the sound of her own footsteps echoed in her ears as she made her way up the stairs, memories from her early life coming back to her as she headed towards the fate that she and she alone had decided for herself.  
The times when she was small and she would play with her mother in the backyard, being held by her on the porch swing that they had and loving the soft and fresh feel of her long, silk and lace dresses.  
The peanut butter and banana sandwiches she would make her on a nice spring day, both of them going out and playing in the sunshine on the moist grass from fresh rainfall; and then Rio Hasama, Hikaru's late mother, collapsing on the ground in dead faint of which had scared the small child beyond anything she had felt before then, alerting their neighbors and contacting the hospital  
It was how she had first found out about her mother's illness, of which she had not fully understood at the age of 8 but had had it explained to her well enough for her to know that her mom was not going to be home for awhile.  
For awhile, their neighbors had taken care of her before her aunt and uncle had come to take her to live with them, with regular visits to the hospital as Hikaru never wished to be away from her mother too long in case anything bad happened.  
She remembered being so hopeful when she sat there on her chair or knelt by the bedside with her head in her arms, talking happily with the woman that she had known for every aspect of her life, talking about how things were going to get better and they would soon be able to go home and live their lives again - only that was never to be.

1:20

1:19

1:18

 **"He even knew he was doomed from the moment he came back with you... He caught on to what was happening to him, that he belonged to me and me alone... There was nothing he could do to run from me once I had a hold of him, and knew it very well... Now there is nothing of him left.. And the best part is, that outside of all of you, no one will miss him.."**

Tears streamed down Hikaru's face as she made her way up onto the roof of the B-Pit, tear tracks staining her cheeks - identical to the time of when she had sat there in the room with Rio, sitting on her chair and staring down at the hand that had been the last thing she held before he life fell apart, listening oh so carefully as her mother took her final breaths, the heart monitor beating every few seconds before it cut out and finally flat-lined.  
It had not been that way with Gingka, not reminding her of the way that her mother had breathed so softly in her oxygen mask, clinging to her last threads of life before finally letting go and passing on into the world beyond theirs; but all that filled her mind was the amount of guilt and regret that she now carried on her shoulders as the wind now blew through her blue hair on top of the building, her steps delicate and her vision blurred with tears as she slowly made her way over to the edge, her footsteps echoing in her ears like her heartbeat and swallowing the lump in her throat.  
The tears fell softly and blew away in the wind, the soft bit of salty liquid reflecting in the light of the sun behind the clouds that filled the blue sky - this is what everything they had ever done had lead up, didn't it?

Gingka was dead, all except for this one chance that he could live if her will didn't crumble away.  
The constant ringing in her ears didn't even sound like ringing anymore - more like the flat-lining of the heart monitor that she had heard more than necessary in her life; of course, none of it mattered anymore now that she stood there with the clock slowly ticking down in her head, reminding her that she did not have that much time left for this grave decision that she had chosen for herself.

When he holds the fate of more than one in his hands and a life hangs in the balance between them all, one can give their life to save the other...

It was a little complicated when she thought about it, remembering how exactly he had explained it to her with little difficulty - even in the emotionless, calm, soul-ridden state she had been in, she had still found it confusing for the most part.  
But now, it all seemed to make sense as she stood there at the edge of the tall building of which she had been too several times in the years that Gingka had been absent from the city, and many times this week; the very tips of her black, high-heeled shoes peeked over the edge and looked to the ground in a way that was devoid of fear and anxiety and nervousness - whether someone had already seen her up here, had already called the police to be down there as soon as possible, she didn't care.  
Nothing would stop her from this decision that could indeed make all the difference... And she would be dead before they ever got there.

0:56

0:55

0:54

 **"He has nobody who will miss him.. And even if you claim to miss him, there will be a day when you wake up and realize that he lied straight to your faces and then passed it off with a smile..."**

"Mom..." The word escaped Hikaru's lips like a ghost, fading off into the wind as nothing more than what had once been the past that she wished could've been relatively 'normal'.  
A single tear made its way down Hikaru's cheek from her eyes, heading down to her chin and dripping off into the ground - there was no other way, and she knew that.  
And even if there was, there wasn't enough time.

0:31

0:30

0:29

0:28

Hikaru bit the inside of her bottom lip of which quivered as her entire body wished to protest and make her not do what she knew she had to do, what she wanted to do.  
Shaking her head gently, Hikaru opened her bluish-purple eyes once more as the memories of everything she had done in the past few weeks came to mind once more - and faded.  
"I'm sorry..." Hikaru made her decision as she stepped out off the edge, almost as if testing if she could walk on air like the fictional characters in the books that she liked to read before bed - and in that split moment, she was in her mother's arms once more.

0:15

0:14

0:13

 **"And you will** ** _hate_** **him.."**

It was in that moment when Zyro finally looked up, moving at almost lightning speed as he whipped out his Bey and launcher, putting them both into place and taking stance much to their surprise.  
Alcorin's expression almost softened at that moment, his eyes less narrow and his smirk somewhat faded as he looked at the Fire Blader's sudden action, before a light chuckle came from the bottom of his throat.  
"So that's how you want it to be?" Alcorin questioned, tilting his head back in the slightest bit as he saw the determination that had been newly formed in Zyro's eyes from the previous blankness that had been there, "Well alright then.. We can have it your way."

In both hands, Alcorin appeared to summon which appeared to be a Bey and launcher, something that they wouldn't have expected him to have considering the powers that he had inherited from a god that was long destroyed.  
It only took a second before Shinobu, Sakyo, Takanosuke, and even Kira had mounted their Beys and stood by Zyro's side, all giving him looks of fair reassurance that they were there to back him up against this inhuman psychopath - much could be told from Kira's single glance to him with his eye, though he didn't have time to read much of it before their eyes all moved back to Alcorin of who stood in the same stance as the rest of them.  
Maru and Madoka silently watched, the brunette now finally able to stand up while leaning against the wall slightly for support in case her knees decided to knock together again - it was only a few seconds before all Beys were launched, the immortal cry never being heard in dreaded silence that would soon turn into intense battle.

* * *

0:08

0:07

Red stained her blue hair as she lay there on the ground as she lay in a pool of her own blood, people quickly gathering around her with an urgent call of the hospital to be heard very faintly in the horrified sounds and crying - Hikaru's hand faintly twitched from the aftershocks of the fall as her eyes went entirely blank, blood pouring out in a small stream from her mouth to join that of the blood coming from her head.

0:06

0:05

0:04

Though everyone knew very well that it was suicide, blood staining the sidewalk, no one knew her motives for it; they would think it was from depression, because she had had a hard life or suffered from some sort of serious trauma - but they didn't know what she did.  
They didn't know that when she stepped off that building, she had no regrets.

0:02

0:01

0:01

0:01

The only thing that was left to be heard, was a faint noise that nobody could make out in the commotion from down below as one life was traded for another.

 **Ba-thump**

 **Beep**


	31. Chapter 30 - Awake And Alive

Chapter 30 - Awake And Alive

* * *

The immortal cry came from no one and reached no one's ears as all Bey's were launched, though there was the pure sound of the spinning of them on metal and the determination on the faces of the 5 of who had come to stand against the psychopath of who faced them with that little smile on his face.

"Ifraid!"

"Salamander!"

"Dragoon!"

"Griffin!"

"Bahamoote!"

On command, all 5 Beys did as they were instructed and raced towards the black, dark blue, and silver Bey that spun silently a little ways away, Alcorin standing there calmly without so much as blinking his eyes as the 5 of them came racing towards his own of which they did not know the identity of yet.  
Yet Alcorin's golden-brown eyes watched as the 5 Beys charged towards his own before a small smile made its way upon his lips with a soft chuckle - it was only when all 5 Beys came nearly to the point of smashing into Alcorin's did the other, with a gracefulness that had mimicked Ren with what Kira and Zyro had seen, throw his hand out as if to command it.

"Bellerophon!"

He seemed to control the Bey to his will, as if connected to him as the symbol on the face bolt pulsated and glowed a blue color, followed by the rest of the top as part of it seemed to shift - it was only before the 5 Beys came in contact with Bellerophon did said Bey release a large ring of energy from around it, sending all Beys flying back several feet and shocking the 7 that stood opposite of the psychopath.  
Ifraid, Salamander, Dragoon, Griffin, and Bahamoote all landed near their bladers, Ifraid, Griffin, and Salamander seeming to wobble a bit before regaining their balance.  
Both Maru and Madoka stared at the silver, black, and dark blue bey that spun across from the other five, having never truly seen an ability like that that a Bey possessed - they had seen some pretty 'far out' abilities that Bey's had over the years, especially Madoka, though that was definitely a new one.  
Maru didn't cling to Madoka's skirt anymore as she watched the battle begin to commence, not having her laptop anymore to gather any sort of data on their Beys and having to look really hard across the battle field towards Bellerophon, as Alcorin's Bey supposedly as called.  
She couldn't see much but for the mix of silver/white, dark blue, and black, though - from several years of gathering data on them - was able to make out some of the larger characteristics; of course, Madoka kept her eyes on the Bey too, even though her own turquoise orbs ached a bit from crying, the thought of Gingka's death still fresh in her mind and yet fighting as hard as she could to stay strong.

"Can't fight a Bey you know nothing about, now can you?" Alcorin questioned, tilting his head slightly with that eerie tone of his, "Of course, you may have done it before, but you either lost or got lucky - you'll find Holy Bellerophon quite different."  
Kira's one eye narrowed at the narrowed at the indigo-haired deity - or whatever the hell he was - with slight irritation. For his Beyblade to have more unusual abilities than just special moves would possibly make sense for him, considering Alcorin's apparent origins.  
"Well?" Alcorin questioned, as though mocking them on their sudden pause, "If you want to try so badly, then come at me with everything you have! It's not like it'll matter, either way."  
Several glances were exchanged between bladers, as if telepathically communicating with each other even though they couldn't and had no idea what the others were really thinking - they may not had always seen eye to eye, but they knew well what they all wanted to do right now.  
No words were needed for the actions they planned next.

"Salamander!"

"Ifraid!"

"Dragoon!"

On command all 3 of the said Beys acted on their Blader's orders, all racing forwards while Griffin and Bahamoote both went off to either side - Zyro glanced at Shinobu of who nodded, all of them fully aware of one of Bellerophon's abilities that could potentially throw them off like it had in the beginning.  
"Salamander!" Shinobu called out, "Special Move! Phantom Fire Strike!"  
The face bolt of Ninja Salamander pulsated and glowed a stunning orange at it's Blader's command, picking up rapidly in speed and darting to many places at once in the same area before it disappeared from sight entirely and left multiple copies of it that may as well have all been exactly the same thing.  
Considering Alcorin had been watching them for weeks now, he had likely seen many of their special movies - only Shinobu's was designed to confuse the opponent either way without them knowing which was the real one.  
Even with the multiple clones that raced towards Bellerophon while all the while cloaking Ifraid and Griffin.  
Ifraid blended in perfectly, unable to be seen as well as Dragoon, as they all shared relatively the same color schemes even though Dragoon was more red - even so, Alcorin did not seemed phased and kept really nothing but a straight poker face except for his eyes moving to look towards Bellerophon like through some telepathic communication.  
Golden-brown eyes made their way back to the quickly approaching Beys before taking his right foot and tapping the toe of his knee-high boot against the metal, emanating a small echoing sound of which Bellerophon somehow seemed to respond too.

With the unseen symbols on the Warrior Wheel glowing a blue color did Bellerophon - to their surprise - dash towards Salamander, Ifraid, and Dragoon with it's master's orders that it had been given.  
All Bey's made contact with each other, the clones of Ninja Salamander vanishing as contact was made before Ifraid and itself were sharply repelled back while Dragoon's face-bolt pulsated and glowed a red deep red and slammed into the other Bey, the two of them fighting for dominance for several moments with several sparks before Bellerophon was knocked back along with Dragoon itself.  
Madoka's eyes narrowed slightly as she carefully watched Bellerophon's movements, using her years of experience in analyzing, cataloging and fixing Beys to determine as much as could without any source of technology at her fingertips to help her out.  
It was only when she finally calculated how Holy Bellerophon repelled the other Beys and had fairly good endurance did her eyes widen in the slightest as she realized what the 5 of them were up against.

"It's a Defense Type." Madoka said, of which was clearly audible to them as she said this, "A strong one too.. I can't analyze it but I think it might be shielded around the Warrior and Elemental Wheel."  
Maru looked up at her teacher with lavender eyes, noticing how she was now more focused on the battle at hand than anything else - this was thankfully a distraction for her from the fact that Gingka was dead... Or maybe it was the thought of getting back at Alcorin for all that he's done that made her will suddenly fire up and allow her to stand on her feet.  
Maru didn't know, but she also didn't say anything about it as she spoke only about Bellerophon.

"You mean round around the edges?" Maru asked out of curiosity, having seen only a couple of Bey's with that distinguishing feature a few times in her years of being a Bey Mechanic.  
"Kind of, but I can't really tell.." Madoka answered, keeping her eyes locked onto Bellerophon of which was now simply spinning in the exact place it had been knocked off to, "But I think it's designed to repel attacks... Which isn't good for Zyro and the others.."  
Maru's eyes widened slightly and went back to the occurring battle of which was taking place before their very eyes. Either way, how Alcorin had commanded his Bey through some sort of gesture without words was surreal enough, though considering the linage that he was born into it wasn't that much of a surprise he could do something of the sort.

"Bahamoote!"

"Griffin!"

Both of the summoned Bey's reacted to the calls of their Blader's, both turning sharply from the sidelines and racing towards Bellerophon from symmetrical sides as to hit it from both ways; seeing this, a small smirk made its way to Alcorin's lips, watching as both Beys rapidly got closer and seemed just about crash into his own before he took the same foot and tapped the tip of his boot lightly on the floor behind him.  
And Bellerophon definitely seemed to take the signal before it quickly evaded the attacks from both Bahamoote and Griffin as they nearly came in contact with itself, leading them into a false sense of security before tricking them into crashing into one another and knocking each other back - sly, cunning, manipulative, just like Alcorin himself; a Bey and a Blader that were more alike than anything, maybe in more ways than one.  
Kira's one eye narrowed towards the psychopath across from them, taking this almost as a personal offense and humiliation of which he knew that Alcorin was incapable of feeling remorse of.  
Most of their eyes widened at this sudden evasion, having seen before their eyes how Holy Bellerophon had somehow just managed to escape from what could have been a dreadful attack. It could have been repelled either way, but it looked like Alcorin definitely wanted to get something more out of it than just his own defense.

"That was some fast evasion!" Maru exclaimed out of surprise, watching as Bellerophon came to a stop once more near the middle of all of them, waiting for its prey of who thought they were the predators to once more come upon him.  
"I've only seen that type of thing a few times..." Madoka inquired in a sentimental-type of way, "But this one is a bit different. Bellerophon's not attacking because it's main point is for defense... But it uses it's defensive strategies to attack!"

"Huh?" Maru looked up at her teacher with a raised eyebrow, also earning a few glances from Zyro, Kira, Takanosuke, Shinobu, and Sakyo at this statement.  
"Bellerophon might seem like it's attacking at times.." Madoka began to explain, "But it's actually only putting up defense and not offense.. It went for Salamander, Ifraid, and Dragoon because it's shield could potentially do a bit of damage to them while keeping itself relatively safe. And I only just realized it when it evaded Kira and Takanosuke's attack - evasion is a type of defense mechanism, and with strong defense and high evasion-"

"-Bellerophon can use their attacks as _it's_ attacks!" Maru finished for her in sudden realization of which earned a proud nod from her teacher.  
A small giggle echoed through the room, like that of a child's from years past that could bring back such nostalgic memories - only this was far more terrifying than anything such as that.  
Alcorin said nothing, simply looking upon them as if they really did peak his interest, intrigued by the ways that they worked considering that they were much different lifeforms than he was.  
"Clever indeed..." He said softly, his lips just barely moving though it was audible enough for it to reach their ears, "But it won't get you anywhere.. Don't even deny you feel the hopelessness that condemns your souls. I'm just here to watch it all play out."  
It wouldn't take a genius figure out that all 5 Bladers were absolutely done with Alcorin's shit - if anyone had put up with it for this long, on accounts of all the things that had happened in the span of a month, they probably would be too.

"Ifraid!"

"Salamander!"

"Griffin!"

"Dragoon!"

"Bahamoote!"

A small smile crossed Alcorin's face with half-lidded golden-brown eyes as he heard the calls of the Beys and watched as they reacted to the Blader's cries.  
No words came from his mouth before he lifted his arm and gracefully threw it out as some sort of command to his own Bey - and Bellerophon heard the call...

* * *

Tsubasa bit the skin around his thumbnail with an anxious feeling in his chest, pacing back and forth in front of the entrance to the hall of which was currently not being used because of the recent discovery they had all made of Alcorin's location.  
He had been gone for 2 minutes.  
 _2 minutes_ and now Maru was god-knows-where.  
Well... He had a pretty good idea of where she was, but not even he felt like going down there when he had sworn to stay up here and make sure that no one went down, no one discovered this place.  
He was supposed to watch Maru for Madoka, he had promised his friend that he wouldn't let anything happen to her - he had even promised Maru that everything would be okay, and that nothing would happen to her and the others.  
He had been gone for literally two minutes, came back, and she wasn't there in the room that they had both been in talking and saying nothing to each other.  
Tsubasa ran his hand through his silver hair and pulled at the locks lightly, irritated with himself that he had let Maru wander off and possibly let her get hurt and into all sorts of trouble.  
So much had happened today that he had a hard time making sense of anything, why all of this was happening now of all times - Maru had only returned that day, and there was no way in hell that she would want to see Alcorin considering what he had done to Dynamis only the previous day.

"Dammit.." Tsubasa cursed under his breath and leaned against the wall, silently cursing to himself for letting Maru just slip through his fingers and now being able to be anywhere - and despite his idea of where she had gone, he had no idea where the little mechanic could be beyond that.  
Sighing heavily, the silverette turned back in the direction towards the hall which he knew would do nothing but feed his worry - only this time it wasn't that.  
He saw something just disappearing down the stairs, something that he hadn't caught the full sight of - but what he had seen made his heart automatically leap into his throat.  
White, tattered fabric waving behind somebody before swiftly disappearing down the stairs with the faint sound of footsteps on metal echoing in his ears before slowly disappearing in a panicked hurry.  
No, that couldn't have been... That was impossible, he was..  
Tsubasa breathed heavily without noticing, his golden-brown eyes never leaving the place of where they had fallen upon when the impossible sight and thought had crossed his mind...

* * *

Kite gingerly placed Ren against the wall, making sure that her head was at a position as to not have her get a crook in her neck.  
It had been the most sudden thing too... He had been looking into her blank eyes, tiredly fighting against her own tireless self with all the power that he could muster in the depths of his soul as to not let her out of his grasp so easily.  
It had only been when Ren seemed about to attack a fatal blow did she suddenly stop mid-sentence before collapsing onto the ground, followed by Phoenix of which Kite had done the favor of putting back in her carrier case.  
He was tired out to the point of breathing heavily with blurry vision, though didn't give into his tiredness as he placed her and Eight side by side as to lean comfortably on each other in their calm states of unconsciousness.  
Eight still hadn't woken up, but Kite took rest knowing that his little brother was alive and breathing, along with Ren.  
Slowly regaining his strength, Kite had not noticed the quickly approaching footsteps from down the hall, echoing against the metal naturally yet not able to reach his ears from how unfocused he was at the moment - the battle with Ren had gone on a long time, and there was no doubt that she'd likely be resting for awhile as well even though she hadn't been in her right mind.  
The only thing that finally clued Kite in that somebody else was there was a familiar voice that came from behind him.

"Kite?" A gasp escaped Kite's lips before swiftly turning while still on his knees, his breath getting caught in his throat and his eyes widening at who he saw standing there - and for a moment, he swore that he was dreaming.  
"Where are they?" The question snapped Kite out of his trance-like state and he shook his head to get himself together before pointing down the hall in the opposite direction of where they had come from.  
"They went that way.." The brunette replied, and didn't say anything else as he watched the other hurry down the hall in the direction that Kite had indicated, being the only other direction they could go.  
Kite quickly pushed his glasses up on his nose to try and see things clearer, just being able to catch sight of the other before they disappeared from his sight all together.  
Well, this was definitely a dramatic change in events...

* * *

All attacks that Zyro, Shinobu, Kira, Takanosuke, and Sakyo threw against Alcorin and Bellerophon were nearly futile, the psychopath using his Bey's defense and evasion to his advantage to weaken the others with their own attacks turned against one another - how he was managing to do so and keeping track of all of them was something unknown.  
Takanosuke and Shinobu both breathed heavily, as well as Zyro and Kira while Sakyo kept mostly a stoic posture while still being a little worn out himself - even so, he had only ever lost a battle once, and that was to Zyro.  
There was no way in hell he was going to let that happen again, especially not to someone like Alcorin.  
All the supposed deity did was stand there with that same neutral look on his face, the smallest twitches of a smile on the edges of his lips and his golden-brown eyes almost half-lidded.

"Well..." He began in a carefree tone, "More persistent than I give credit for.. Pathetic..." Whether or not he was trying to get them angry was unknown, since it seemed like he didn't even have much to worry about anymore now that Gingka was dead - though, knowing him, he was likely just doing it to feed that sadistic pleasure of his.  
Whatever reason it was, none of them really cared anymore - they were absolutely _done_ with him.

"Go hard, Ifraid!"

"Salamander!"

"Bahamoote!"

"Dragoon!"

"Griffin!"

All 5 of them, as well as their Bey's, glowed the entrancing colors of their auras and showing their Bey Spirits as they all charged once more against Bellerophon - as well as it was, Alcorin didn't even know the meaning of the Blader's spirit as Gingka had taught them.  
"We're not going to give up Alcorin!" Zyro asked, earning nothing but a stoic expression from the enemy that they faced, "Gingka taught us to stand against people like you until the end!.. And getting rid of him won't get rid of that!"  
A small smirk crossed Alcorin's features in amusement at their stubbornness to not give up - but he was well ready to take that on considering he had already won on some account.  
All 5 Beys, pulsating with the energy that built inside them from their Bladers charged towards the one of which reacted the same way with a flick of Alcorin's left hand - the face bolt pulsated and glowed a beautiful blue color, the symbols around the top of the Warrior Wheel faintly glowing the same color as it prepared itself with it's sly and manipulative ways.

"Ifraid!"

"Salamander!"

"Dragoon!"

"Griffin!"

"Bahamoote!"

In the blink of eye there was a shining streak of light just all Beys were able to come in contact with each other and Bellerophon had possibly been about to defend or evade, the mysterious trail of energy flashing before their eyes before crashing into Bellerophon diagonally above of which seemed to be a vague weak spot from what they could see, all Bey's slamming into it at the same time while not really doing that much damage save for Sakyo and Kira before the impacts exploded into a huge cloud of dust of which just blocked their view.  
Though they were able to see the silhouette of what appeared to be Bellerophon flying back and near Alcorin, wobbling a bit before just being able to regain it's balance from the intense attack that none of them had been expecting.  
Ifraid, Salamander, Bahamoote, Griffin, and Dragoon all fell back as well, a few of them struggling to maintain their balance while Shinobu's and Takanosuke's remained just fine.  
Madoka covered her eyes, peeking over her arm at the battle field while Maru coughed lightly beside him from inhaling a bit of dust of which she was sure they had all done - all 6 Beys on the battlefield were still up in spinning, Bellerophon now recovering from the intense attack that it had been hit with.  
But it was only then that Madoka noticed something of which she had never expected to see at this point in time.

There wasn't 6 Beys on the field - there was 7.

All of them squinted their eyes through the dust as it slowly cleared, all eyes soon falling on the Bey that had suddenly just joined the battle, gazing at it to see if they recognized it.  
And out of all of them, Zyro was the one who did right off the bat.  
His breath hitched in his throat as he recognized the Bey had just shown up, the blue, silver, and red colors coming back to him in a flash and recognizing exactly who's Bey it was.  
"Pegasus?..." The Fire Blader questioned, his question no more than a gasp of air of which shocked all of them as their eyes made to their way to Zyro before slowly wandering to behind themselves as a very familiar voice spoke up.

"Hope I didn't miss too much."

It was at this did Alcorin's eyes widen in what looked like the true definition of what fear was.  
That, or it was shock as all eyes and bodies turned to the entrance-way from behind them of which the 7 of them had come from to see the one person that made their hearts skip a beat or two.  
Red, spiked hair, golden-brown eyes and a white, tattered scarf that resembled the wings that had been tied down while he had lain chained to that bed in an eternal sleep.  
"G-Gingka..." The name barely came off of Madoka's lips, her eyes once more filling with knees as she threatened to fall to her knees at the unbelievable sight of the redhead - considering that he was supposed to be dead, all of them were nearly in the same state.  
Yet Gingka's eyes were focused solely on Alcorin, narrowing golden-brown orbs of which gazed across into ones of identical color.  
Everyone stared in shock as they saw the tension between both of them, Alcorin's previously shocked/afraid expression turning into one of equal displeasure at the sight of seeing Gingka alive; their auras appeared around them in thin layers, the energy pulsating from behind their eyes of which made them seem like there was no light to be reflected or within them at all - Gingka's was a royal blue, while Alcorin's was a blue of a lighter shade contradicting his personality.

Both Pegasus and Bellerophon reacted the same way, everything seeming to darken as the spirits of every Bey spinning made it's appearance, yet the beasts all faced near the front and the center of where the armored, winged horse and the armor-clad warrior stood, both facing each other as spirits who had once been allies millennial ago.  
At this visual sight that they all saw before each other, the younger bladers had not noticed the redhead coming up to stand with them, and were surprised when they saw him there ready to fight with them.  
"I hope you're not planning on counting me out on this because I just woke up.." The redhead said with a playful but weary smile considering he had apparently just somehow woken up - he was supposed to be dead, but none of them argued with that.  
"You..." Alcorin said, his voice slightly subdued as he stared at the redhead that now stood with the other Bladesr that he had already been facing, "You should be dead by now.."  
Gingka's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked back towards the Bellerophon Blader across the field from them.  
"Yeah, well I'm definitely not feeling that dead.." Alcorin's eyes narrowed slightly, a dangerous gleam to them as he glared at the redhead that he likely surely thought he killed with the palm of his hand. Apparently not, as it seemed.

"But how?..." He questioned, his teeth somewhat grinding together as he asked the question that all of them had on their minds.  
"You're quite the strategist, I'll give you that." Gingka complicated in a rather kind way, even though they all knew very well that he didn't like this psychopath as much as the they did, "But you made the mistake of having the fates of more than one person in your hands."  
It was at this did Alcorin's expression fade into one of shock, his irises shrinking in size as the emotion of fear appeared in them as it seemed.  
To be honest, to see Alcorin look so afraid and vulnerable for once was actually quite satisfying, just as much as wiping that smirk off of his face was.  
Gingka's eyes then went back to Zyro and the others once more, who returned his gaze save for Kira who's one good eye was on the opposite side of him.  
With no words spoken, all Bladers nodded and turned their heads back to the battlefield as if some sort of telepathic connection had been born between them all that just spoke automatically.  
Madoka's eyes never left Gingka, and for several minutes she truly thought that she was dreaming, dreading the moment of when she would snap out of slumber and wake up to see the ceiling of her bedroom, faintly hearing the beep of the heart monitor down the hall in the stunning silence.  
Yet even as long as she waited, there was no waking because there was no dream.  
Maru didn't really have anything to say about the matter either, as shocked as her teacher was that Gingka was actually there, walking and breathing, awake and alive, still in the world and still with the same gleam of hope that he had carried with him since the day he was born.  
And yet... How?

"Ifraid!"

"Salamander!"

"Griffin!"

"Dragoon!"

"Bahamoote!"

"Pegasus!"

With the united power that they now shared between each other, all 6 of their Beys pulsated and glowed with their bladers' aura and answered to the call.  
Alcorin growled under his breath slightly, that faint undertone sounding like it was there yet it may not have been, before he threw his hand out in response.

"Bellerophon!"

Bellerophon, in turn, reacted to it's masters call, glowing a blue color as it knew exactly what it needed to do and raced forwards towards the other Beys as they came at it.  
The spirits that inhabited the small, spinning objects appearing above them, Pegasus leading the group of 6 as it sped towards the spirit of which - in Greek Mythology - had been it's rider against the Chimera, had captured it and befriended it so that they could work together as one.  
It was evident those times were long gone.  
A soft chuckle came out from Alcorin's throat, echoing slightly with that intensity that burned inside of it like poison - it was only then did he place his feet together perfectly, his head lowering slightly before throwing out both of his hands as his golden-brown eyes seemed to be illuminated by the darkness cast over them.

"Special Move! Silent Scream!..." A high-pitched scream echoed out from Bellerophon as the face-bolt pulsated and glowed a blue color, followed by the symbols on the Warrior Wheel of which created some sort of ring around the rim of where the Warrior Elemental Wheels met before making another high-pitched noise as the ring shot off from around Bellerophon and seemed to halt in mid-air before make-shift walls formed around itself yet only about 3 feet high, yet enough to trap all 7 Beys in a sealed circle of which they were all still capable of seeing through too.  
Within the ring created around them, all Bey's made contact with each other, being 6 against one before Alcorin tapped the toe of his knee-high boot to the side of him, once more activating the ability that he had used at the start of the battle before Gingka had arrived.  
The top of the Warrior Wheel seemed to shift slightly before Bellerophon let out another large ring of energy that sent every other Bey flying away from it to make contact with the edges of the ring that it had created around itself and then - yet when the other's made contact they were immediately repelled with a sharp spark, wobbling slightly on their tips while fighting to regain their balance.  
Pegasus was relatively fine, Gingka seeming to keep his eye on it as if speaking with the spirit itself before looking back up to the rest of the battle.  
Madoka and Maru were equally as shocked as the rest of them were at this type of move, having never seen such an ability where a Bey used pure energy to close itself and others in, or at least not that they could remember.  
"Well, that's quite peculiar." Kira said irritably as his one eye shifted to Alcorin across from them before going back to their Bey's.  
"Being a Defense Type, that move is probably usually used to keep others out.." Shinobu observed after seeing the effect that their Bey's touching the walls had had, "But like Maru and Madoka said, it keeps using our attacks and it's defensive strategies as it's own attacks."

"Pretty clever if you ask me.." This compliment was what earned a few weird looks towards the redhead, of which glanced at the few of them looking at him with a confused look before shrugging.  
"What?" He asked, "It is really smart once you think about the fact that Bellerophon only really has defensive and evasive mechanisms built into it, from what I've heard from you guys.. You really have to think hard about strategy when it comes to something like that."  
Well, he did kind of have a point - and from the rush of the battle they brushed off how he knew exactly what kind of mechanisms were built into Bellerophon right off the bat; maybe it was just some sort of gift, knowing him.  
All Alcorin did was stand there, a rather unreadable expression on his face as he watched them all try to plan their next moves.  
Even as much as they could try, he basically had them completely trapped - they couldn't use their Special Moves, considering it would eventually mean coming in contact with the wall built around them which would cut off the whole thing seeing as it would repel them.  
At this moment, they were straight up backed into a corner of which they probably couldn't even make a narrow escape from.  
Madoka bit the inside of her lip as she witnessed the tightly sewn situation before the bladers, having seen for herself as well just what kind of abilities that Bellerophon was capable of and how - no matter what they did - it would have a way to repel them and use their attacks as it's own to finish them off.

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Takanosuke said stress-fully, almost reaching his hands up and pulling on the bit of his hair that curled upwards out of the need to let some sort of steam out of him.  
Zyro glanced over at Gingka and saw the redhead's focused expression, his irises moving slightly as if observing the battlefield of which some of them were doing already.  
It was only then that the Fire Blader noticed something different with Gingka's eyes - he didn't know what it was exactly, but something just seemed different about them.  
They were exactly the same color so it wasn't that, they still had that determination and burning intensity that he remembered from when they battled against Doji and each other, but there was something else there that didn't seem right - that or there was something missing, but the ginger-ravenette immediately brushed it off the moment Gingka spoke.  
"Well, I do have _one_ idea.." He said gravely, glancing over at Kira and Shinobu who were on his left side before looking over at the other 3 on his right side, "But you're gonna think I'm crazy.."  
The younger bladers raised their eyebrows at him at that sentence - this was going to be good... And maybe a little dangerous as well.  
It wasn't long before all of them turned their eyes back towards the battlefield and Alcorin of who stood there with zero emotion on his face as he observed them with golden-brown eyes that seemed familiar somehow...

"Dragoon!"

"Bahamoote!"

"Ifraid!"

"Salamander!"

"Griffin!"

"Pegasus!"

All Beys reacted to their Blader's call - only they did nearly the exact opposite of what Alcorin had been expecting.  
Ifraid, Bahamoote, Griffin, Salamander, and Pegasus attacked from all sides, making nearly immediate contact with Bellerophon and giving it no room to use it's high evasion and slip away.

"Don't back down, Salamander!"

"Go hard, Ifraid!"

"Don't let him escape, Griffin!" Alcorin's eyes narrowed in confusion as he saw what they were doing, before his eyes landed on the one Bey that wasn't attacking Bellerophon - Dragoon.

"Sakyo, do it!" Gingka called, glancing over at the other redhead of who did not need to told twice.  
"Now, Dragoon!" Sakyo called, his crimson red aura strong around him as Ronin Dragoon took the signal, gaining up all of it's speed before - surprisingly - slamming itself into the wall that surrounded them of which sharply repelled it into Pegasus.  
Alcorin's eyes widened what he saw that Dragoon had actually moved all of it's force into doing so before the large amount of friction was enough to squeeze Pegasus out as it shot high into the air.  
And to everyone's surprise, a hole about as wide as the ring that had been created around the other Beys opened and swallowed Pegasus whole, shining through to the cosmos of which were likely not present in the current time outside.  
Alcorin's eyes widened at this, his stoic expression fading and revealing one that almost looked afraid as his own golden-brown eyes looked from where Pegasus had disappeared to where Gingka stood.  
The redhead had nothing but a calm look on his face as he, in turn, looked across into eyes of the same color, narrowing his own in the slightest bit.

"I don't think you wanted to kill me because I would get in the way, Alcorin..." Gingka said as if a sudden realization had come upon him, shaking his head in the slightest bit, "I think you were just afraid of me."  
Alcorin's irises dilated as those words seemed to strike him like a brick wall, the only expression on his face being that of which Gingka said - fear.

"Special Move!" Gingka called out, his voice seeming to echo as his entire body was surrounded by a royal blue aura, "Galaxy Nova!"  
A sound was heard from up above of which all eyes went to, a spark of royal blue showing through the cosmos before Pegasus came down at the near speed of light, smashing down into the suspended Bellerophon with incredible force - both Horse and Rider made contact with reach from above before a light formed between them and practically exploded, filling the room with a nearly blinding light that went Alcorin's way.  
The one Blader in question lifted his arms to cover his eyes and face from the light even though it would do no good as he was completely knocked off his feet with the power that surged through the light that engulfed him.  
A hoarse scream could be heard from the loud sound of raw power practically imploding upon itself and echoed in their ears as Alcorin's form - from what they would see - entirely disappeared in what looked like it was shredding apart into two, following in his father's footsteps from 7 years ago.  
The scream that filled their ears faded slowly along with the light that had engulfed Alcorin himself, all of them finally able to look up to see their own Beys still narrowly spinning, while Bellerophon lay on it's side in front of where Alcorin had previously stood.  
It's colors almost seemed to have faded as Alcorin had himself before it dissipated into the air into sparkles that faded into nothingness like it had perhaps been born of.

The 6 Bladers called their Beys back to their hands, Gingka breathing noticeably hard from exhaustion - seeing as how he had apparently just recently woken up from a week-long coma and he had been severely weakened beforehand, it wouldn't be a surprise if his strength was still a bit edgy.  
"Gingka..." Madoka breathed out, slowly walking towards the redhead of who turned towards her, wheezing slightly from the amount of strength that he had used of which worried them slightly.  
Though Madoka had tears in her eyes, looking him up and down as if trying to establish whether or not he was actually real. All Gingka could really do was give her a weak smile.  
"Hey, Madoka.." He said tiredly as tears ran down Madoka's face - it only took a few moments for her to suddenly latch onto him and beginning crying into his chest.  
Gingka almost stumbled back at first before instinctively catching himself by putting his foot back.  
He, of course, didn't push Madoka away and simply returned her embrace.  
"Y-you're alive..." The brunette sobbed, lifting her head a bit to wipe her eyes, "You're alive!..."  
Gingka placed one of his hands on the back of her head, gently petting her hair as he let her cry and calm down - honestly, none of them could really believe that Gingka was here either, considering the fact that he was supposed to be dead which had proved itself false. Madoka slowly backed away from Gingka's embrace, of which he let her do as she whipped her eyes to try and get rid of the tears that she kept crying.

"You okay?" Gingka asked calmly out of concern, of which Madoka could only nod to with a small smile on her face, looking down at her side towards Maru and petting the top of her head.

"Gingka.." Gingka's eyes widened a bit at the voice from behind him, turning around and looking down into the eyes of Zyro - the last person he had seen before he had actually fallen into his coma a week ago. The sight of the younger blader brought a soft and apologetic smile to his lips, his eyes tired but still lively from being comatose and weakened for as long as he was.  
"It's definitely good to see you again.." He said kindly, watching as Zyro glanced down at the ground and didn't make direct eye contact with him.  
The ginger-ravenette wasn't even sure if he should bother making eye contact with the Legendary Blader at all, since he had made a promise that he would save his life and he had failed.  
Gingka was alive, yes, but the fact that he had been dead at all was enough for him to know that he had broken the promise he had made even though the redhead likely didn't know about that.  
But he was surprised when he felt a hand on his head of which gently ruffled his hair.

"Sorry.." Gingka said apologetically, and Zyro didn't need to ask what he was even sorry for before he ducked out from under his hand and wrapped his arms around his torso quickly in a hug of which he held.  
Gingka seemed surprised by this at first, and for a moment Zyro felt like he should pull away since it might be a bit weird - but it didn't take long for Gingka to hug him back.  
Zyro felt tears come to his eyes, and as hard as he tried to keep them in, there was one that dripped off of his eyelashes and gently rolled down his cheek to seek freedom.  
Nobody said anything as the two had a little moment of their own - not just between bladers, but between friends.  
It was about a minute or so before both of them let go and Gingka poked his lightly.  
"I missed you, Zyro." He said, chuckling as Zyro went cross-eyed for a moment before scratching the tip of his nose a bit.

"Okay, so you're alive.." Kira began, placing a hand on his hip as he watched that little - and dare he say heartwarming - display, "And do excuse my rudeness, but... _How?_.."  
All of their eyes went back to Gingka at this question which was definitely something that they all wanted to know.  
"Well, it's a bit of a long story..." Gingka began, "But as far as I know, I think everybody that Alcorin had relative control of is free of that.. If they weren't when I was coming down here, I don't doubt they'd be okay now."

"So is Ren okay?" Shinobu asked, hope finally peaking in most of their hearts at this news that he gave them.  
"Last I saw her, she was unconscious.." Gingka explained, "But I don't doubt she'll be fine." Madoka, now with a smile on her face, came up near him.  
"And Hikaru?" She asked. Gingka went to look her way and say something, but his words quickly caught in his throat and averted his eyes.  
"Uh..." Was all he gave as he looked down towards the ground, as if looking for the right words to put what he knew.  
It was several moments before most of them began to grow concerned at his silence, dread cutting through the hope that they had and yet not destroying it, but corrupting it.  
"Gingka?.." Madoka questioned, her eyebrows knitting together in concern as she saw the look on Gingka's face.  
All the redhead did was look up a bit before nodding slightly, biting the inside of his lip before he finally looked up to her.

"Hikaru saved me..."


	32. Epilogue

Epilogue

* * *

It was within the week after Alcorin's defeat was Hikaru's funeral held, attended by Gingka, Madoka, Tsubasa, Benkei, the younger bladers, and many of the WBBA workers of who had been quite fond of the bluenette and shocked and heartbroken to hear of her sudden death of which was ruled as a suicide.  
Benkei had been a bit bitter about the fact that he hadn't been counted or invited in on the action of finding Alcorin and taking him down, but he got over it quickly enough with the news of Hikaru's death.  
Since Dynamis's death had only been the day before they had defeated Alcorin, they held a memorial for him since not many people had known him that well or at all and his body was back at the Mist Mountain Shrine.

Before Hikaru's funeral had taken place, they had all headed to the hospital so that they could check up on Gingka was doing and see if was actually well enough to be on his feet yet - surprisingly, he was absolutely fine.  
His strength was a bit weak considering the state he had been in before falling into his coma, but he was evidently strong enough to walk and even run considering how fast he had seemed to have gotten down there.  
They were also all surprised to find out that Gingka had no visual or internal injuries, despite his previous condition definitely saying otherwise - his heartbeat was normal, his lungs okay, his vitals fine, and his skin back to the regular complexion he had always had instead of that deathly white had been temporarily cursed with.  
Almost as if he had never even been dying or in a coma in the first place; even so, the hospital kept him overnight just to be sure and he was then okay to leave the next morning after showing no differences in his current condition - the doctor had said that it was definitely a miracle that Gingka was 100% fine after going through such psychical and internal trauma without any sort of treatment for it, but all of them seemed to care less.  
Of course, Sakyo and Takanosuke hadn't been there, seeing as how they had departed from the others after they came back up to the WBBA building of where Tsubasa was absolutely shocked to see that Gingka was actually awake and, well, alive for that matter - Kira, unlike Sakyo and Takanosuke, hadn't left right away, giving the excuse in saying that he would be generous and reasonable by giving the other ex-DNA Bladers more time to get over their little 'hissy-fit'.

Throughout the week, Gingka had acted a little weird, like sometimes not even responding to his name or even avoiding them from time to time - though they guessed it was probably just him recovering from the month long state of weakness and being comatose that left him a bit 'off', also considering the fact that he likely felt guilty from lying to them for so long but they clarified that they were more than willing to forgive him.  
Either way, he hadn't really said anything else about it.  
Tsubasa had also said that the tournament would soon be underway once more, as soon as they could get all of their bearings together as they had all been so hellbent on finding Alcorin for the last week - the younger bladers had definitely been glad to hear that now that all of their worries were behind them with Gingka back; though all of them could still see the scars that were left on each other.  
Ren had turned out alright in the end, and hadn't even remembered what happened after she practically 'blacked-out' on the stairs while heading down to Alcorin's domain - she preferred not to talk about the things she had seen and heard when in that 'dormant' state of hers.

Zyro was the one who definitely didn't speak much of it, as well as the other younger bladers of who were rather uncomfortable on the subject, considering Gingka actually had died for a few minutes, as he had vaguely described to them - even now, as Zyro stood in the abandoned shipyard of where him and Gingka had met, he tried to force those thoughts down into the back of his mind.  
Needless to say, it wasn't working that well.  
It was evident that they had all tried very hard to suppress the memories of the last month or so, never mentioning the name of Alcorin since he was dead, and there was no reason to even worry about him anymore - but for all of their sake, they spoke his name as little as possible.  
Maru was the one who flinched nearly every time she heard that name, likely remembering what had happened with Dynamis and still fearing the psychopath despite now being deceased. They all hated the sound of his name, to be honest - Gingka never said anything about him, nor did he really say anything at all as of lately for whatever reason, though that was sort of to be expected from what he went through for 3 weeks before nearly dying in a comatose state.  
Zro looked up to the sky, the sun just trying to peek out from behind the light grey clouds that roamed the sea of baby blue, color finally seeming to return their worlds and yet still with that grey tinge on the edges.

Despite with it all said and done, nothing could ever really go back to the way it was before all of it happened, they all knew that very well, considering all that Alcorin had done to them. Things could continue on the same as they always had, but the scars would eternally be there unlike the several wounds that had healed over the course of the war they had made themselves apart of - a soft sigh escaped Zyro's narrowed lips, looking down from the sky and towards the ground, entirely flat but for the pebbles and small rocks that remained on the surface like some sort of defense mechanism against anything on the surface.  
It was the same shipyard him and Gingka had met in, granted they had technically met when Zyro was the age of 8 and he had given him Samurai Ifraid - he couldn't exactly remember the whole thing very clearly, but he did remember Gingka's words to him to never give up and become stronger; he had listened to him, even to this day, even through all of this.  
The voice that he had heard in the back of his head when he could've entirely given up told him the exact same thing, to not give up, because it wasn't over.  
He couldn't really remember that little 'dream' he had too well, but he had remembered the words that had been spoken between him and whoever had been talking to him - he remembered that he stood up and turned around to face whatever or whoever was behind him, but he couldn't remember who or what he saw if he saw anything at all.  
At this point, it didn't really matter to him - Alcorin was gone, and Gingka was okay as well as the rest of them, and that was all thatg they needed to know to rest easy.

"I thought I'd find you here." Zyro jumped lightly at the familiar voice that came from behind him, looking over his shoulder out of curiosity and relaxing his shoulders at who he saw.  
"Oh, hey Gingka." Zyro greeted, turning to meet the redhead as he walked up to him with a smile and his bag slung over his shoulder of which indicated that he was going somewhere, "How did you know I was here?" Gingka smiled softly and shrugged slightly.  
"Intuition, I guess." He replied, "I was going to ask the others where they thought you would be but I thought just checking here out would be the better option before wandering aimlessly around the whole city to come say goodbye to you."  
Zyro looked surprised at the last words the redhead spoke, a confused look crossing his features as he looked up at the Legendary Blader.  
"What do you mean 'goodbye'?" Zyro asked out of curiosity, watching as the redhead averted his eyes for a moment before looking back towards him.  
"Well..." He began, seeming unsure of what to say at first, "I'm kind of leaving Metal Bey City again. Mainly until things calm down, which takes awhile in this city, from all that I've seen. I already said my goodbyes to the others because I wanted to talk to you last."

Zyro seemed somewhat down at this news for a moment before brushing off his feelings and looking at him out of curiosity.  
"Why?" The Fire Blader asked, of which the Pegasus Blader responded to with a bit of an apologetic smile.  
"Mainly because I have a few things to tell you." Gingka answered, surprisingly the younger blader greatly.  
Zyro didn't ask anything as Gingka looked up towards the sky off to the side just like he had been, seeing the bright sky still tinged with the grey of the covered sun trying to peek out from behind the clouds - just like their lives.  
"This really all went to hell pretty fast, huh?.." The redhead questioned, though evidently didn't look for an answer as he appeared to be thinking, "I mean, yeah, it took about a month but still." Zyro nodded a bit with a light shrug as Gingka looked back to him.  
"Yeah..." Zyro agreed, "Things went even more haywire when you fell into your coma. I didn't really know what to do except, uh... I promised you that I'd save you..."  
Zyro averted his eyes away from the redhead before feeling a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Well, you kept your promise, Zyro." Gingka said with a soft smile, "I couldn't say anything back to you, obviously.. But I did hear you in the back of my mind somewhere while I was asleep."  
Zyro looked surprised at these words from the Legendary Blader, but Gingka's smile did not falter.  
"I'm sorry, by the way..." Gingka continued, taking his hand off of Zyro's shoulders and looking off to the side, "I know I should've said something in those three weeks, but... I knew I shouldn't draw any unnecessary attention. I would've told you the truth, but..."  
The redhead's voice trailed off into the crisp and cool air, never finishing his sentence which Zyro kindly responded to.  
"No, it's fine!" The Fire Blader said with a smile, "Like, I guess it really isn't the easiest thing to tell people that you're kind of dying, anyway."  
A soft laugh was elicited from Gingka, a small sound that sent light shivers down Zyro's spine though he brushed it off right away with a small smile himself.  
" _That_ is an understatement." Gingka said with a small laugh lacing his words, poking Zyro lightly on his forehead out of sheer compassion - it was strange... He didn't feel that strange sensation or light tingle when he made psychical contact with Gingka anymore.. He knew that it had been there previously, he had felt it several times for himself just how hypnotic and strange Gingka's touch felt - well, it didn't really matter anyway, considering he had only felt it when Gingka had been dying of which he wasn't anymore.  
So, if anything, it was probably a good sign.

"Either way, it wasn't easy lying to you guys.." Gingka said while his smile faded, "Especially you... You were the one that I wanted to tell, because I knew that you were probably the only person who could actually do anything about it... But after awhile, I wasn't able to. So lying for 3 weeks became my only resort. But... The only thing that really matters now is that that psychopath is gone. Because Madoka kind of looked like she was really done with him."

"I was too." Zyro said with a small smile, earning one from Gingka in return.  
"Well, it probably makes all of us." The Pegasus Blader said with a light chuckle, "I'm surprised you survived down there with your claustrophobia... Even with how high the ceiling was in there it was still pretty closed in."  
Zyro, at this, averted his eyes away from the Legendary Blader - it shouldn't bother him because Gingka had already known about that fear of his, but he never really liked to bring that subject up.  
It had always been a weakness of his, and there was no way that he could just make it into some sort of advantage, because there was no way - he had always been like that, since his childhood back in the small, somewhat isolated town that he had grown up in.  
"Well, I kind of did freak out a bit on the inside..." He admitted, scratching the back of his head to occupy himself, "I just can't really handle places like that... If it was anymore closed in, even you would've heard me screaming."  
Gingka raised an eyebrow, kind of surprised at that choice of words.  
"That bad, huh?" He asked curiously, of which Zyro simply shrugged to.

"It only happened once when I was little." The Fire Blader explained, "But when I can't keep it down anymore, it's actually crippling. I was screaming for 3 hours until I lost my voice for a few days." Gingka didn't respond to this at first, as if thinking it over and processing just how bad Zyro's claustrophobia could be, before a light smile crossed his face.  
"I'm proud of you." He said suddenly, startling the younger blader as he looked up to him with wide blue eyes.  
"W-what?" Zyro asked, stuttering on his words at the sudden compliment that Gingka had given him.  
"I'm proud of you." Gingka repeated, still with a smile, "When I told you to be strong, Zyro, I didn't just mean through Bey battles - with your own fears as well. Everyone does have fears, I know that for myself - and while you might not be able to completely overcome them, you are able to face them and let them know that they aren't the boss of you. And I'm proud of you, because you took that advice, even though you didn't entirely know what I meant."  
Zyro stared at the redhead for several moments, the other giving him a bit of a weird look and poking his nose of which snapped him out of his little state of shock.  
"O-oh, uh.." Zyro stuttered awkwardly, blushing lightly out of his embarrassment and yet trying to hide it, "T-thanks, Gingka."  
A light chuckle was elicited from the redhead, turning slightly and gesturing towards the exit of the shipyard of which they had met.

"So, where are you going, exactly?" Zyro asked as he walked with Gingka out of the shipyard, both of them standing on the sidewalk that lead into it.  
"I dunno." Gingka said thoughtfully with a shrug, "I don't usually pick a destination... I just kind of go wherever the wind takes me. I don't know when I'll be back, but I'll definitely be sure to watch the tournament from somewhere - because I am _not_ missing that."  
A smile graced Zyro's lips of which was returned by Gingka before he lightly ruffled the younger blader's hair, eliciting a soft whine from Zyro before he ducked out from under his hand.  
"Stop it~!" The Fire Blader whined, of which gave him a soft chuckle from Gingka.  
"Well, I guess I'll see you around, eventually." The redhead said, signalling his soon-to-be leave of the city, "It's been a fun ride, Zyro. Really."

"Yeah, it has.." Zyro agreed, "I'll see you some other time, then." Gingka nodded as he began to turn away, a smile on his face and that same look in his eyes.  
"Definitely."  
With their final parting words, Zyro stood there and watched as Gingka took his leave, heading off down the side walk before beginning to turn away himself.  
"You know..." Zyro began, a sudden thought coming to mind, "Depending on how long you're gone for, maybe I'll come looking for you instead.."  
He was pretty sure Gingka heard him as he turned away himself and began walking away.  
Though Gingka, at these words, slowly came to a stop and heard Zyro's footsteps as the younger blader walked away - and as he did, a small smirk crossed Gingka's features as he slowly looked over his shoulder with half-lidded golden-brown eyes.

"I'll be waiting..."

Zyro's heart stopped, his breathing ceasing as he abruptly stopped in his tracks as those final words struck him in the depths of his soul.  
Those words... He knew them... He had heard them before, but the one who said them was...

 _"Nothing could be as it seems..."_

But he...

 _"He's going to win either way..."_

That couldn't be it..

 _"I don't think he's human..."_

It wasn't possible..

 _"You promised little Gingka that you'd do anything to try and save him..."_

 _"He really likes his little games.."_

 _"You think you know everything there is to it, don't you?"_

He said...

 _"Humans aren't good at keeping promises."_

 _"You see what's before your eyes, and you accept it as just plain reality.."_

 _"Remember what I said..."_

Remember...

 _"Everyone leaves some time or another.."_

 _"I will have my way, Zyro... I always do.."_

It was only then did Zyro finally realize their mistakes.  
Swiftly, he turned around with a shocked and panicked look on his face, feelings that he had hoped he would never have to feel again resurrecting themselves inside of him - Gingka was no where to be seen.  
His stomach and chest hurt, his head aching and his throat tight as everything finally came together in his mind.  
Everything they had fought for, everything they had fought against and lost, everything they had worked so hard to build, rebuild, and create over and over again... Had all been for nothing.  
They had thought they could win, they had thought that everything would finally be okay and go back to the way it was in the beginning before all of this had occurred, and they would finally be able to return to their normal lives.  
Now, as he stood there, the only thing he could hear was that accursed giggle that would forever haunt his dreams in the rest of the eternity that was the life he lived.  
But there would be no purpose in these lives in knowing that what they had believed was all false perhaps from the beginning - and they had lost.

 _"Catch me if you can-"_

But when was the beginning?

 _"-Zyro..."_

* * *

 **And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes the end of Gingka's Deceit! Which I know a lot of you hate me for right now because, yes, I did just end it like that. Plot twist cliffhanger ending for the win~!**

 **I hope you all liked this story, being the first one that I managed to put on here. It took a lot of work to write when I first did it, and I always like to hear people's thoughts on it.**

 **And while it may have ended like that, don't let it trouble you, because I do have more stories on the way that I am currently writing, and planning. You'll see what I mean sooner or later.**

 **Goodbye for now! :3**

 **Update: The sequel for this story is now up and running on my profile! It's called Truth's Disgrace, and continues the story from where we left off on this one, because, really, there are too many things in this story that went unexplained, and they'll be explained in Truth's Disgrace, which is currently still in progress. Hope you'll all check it out! :3**


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